|
 Asma
Khatun had long suffered from unexplained itching and
lesions on her hands. When staff members from IDE-B came
to her village looking for those suffering from arsenic
poisoning, she told them about her mysterious ailments.
These same staff realized Asma probably had arsenic
poisoning and decided to included her in one of the trial
distributions of the Shapla Arsenic Removal Filter. With
clean water from the filter her symptoms are now much
reduced and other villagers have begun remarking on the
effectiveness of this technology.
Asma Khatun lives
with her husband Mokbul Hossain and their three children
in the district of Chapai Nawabgonj, one of the poorer and
more under-served regions of Bangladesh. Asma works in the
home while her husband tends the small plot of land that
provides most of their income. In 2001, she began having
unexplained itching over all her body and lesions on her
fingers. Around the same time, staff from IDE-B came to
the village looking for people who might be suffering from
arsenic-related afflictions. These workers tested the well
where Asma collects water for her family and found that it
contained extremely high levels of arsenic.
In July of 2002 Asma received a Shapla Filter as part of a
trial distribution program and it now has a special place
in her home. One year later, Asma's symptoms are much
reduced and she tells anyone who asks how much she likes
her Shapla Filter. She and her family look forward to a
brighter future now that they are free from the dangers of
what has been called by the World Bank as the "largest
mass poisoning in history." |
