With an emphasis on training locals to create, sell and use this simple, life-saving filtration system, it helped provide communities with safe drinking water.

Two years on, Sunny says that Abundant Water has given 7000 people in Laos clean drinking water, an achievement that brings him and his team great personal pride.

“Our approach has been to work with the locals to help solve their problems and help them to drive their own projects,” he says.

“We build relationships with partners, government and our Laos-based team.

“One issue we faced is that people in Laos are always working and have little downtime in their lives, and one major task that takes about 200 hours each year is to gather firewood to boil water by women and children,” says Sunny.

“With the clay-pot filtration systems, they don’t have to boil their water. Once they got a sense that they didn’t have to spend time gathering firewood anymore, we were able to reach more people.”

Engaging women and giving them the opportunity to become vendors and run their own business has been a focus for Abundant Water and it has recently been awarded a grant to train Laotian women to make their own filtration business.

Sunny says that the first female vendor has just started her business, joining six men who are successfully making a living selling the filters.

Nepal is Sunny’s next challenge. Abundant Water has partnered with organisations that provide social support to women and children to flee domestic violence and gain independence through employment.

“We partnered with these groups who see our work from a financial perspective as important for women to start a small business in a country where formal employment and education is not high,” says Sunny.

After the Nepal earthquake in April, clean water has become a major issue. Abundant Water has launched a crowdfunding campaign to take their Lao training team to Nepal to train Nepali women potters to make their own water filters to supply their families and communities with clean drinking water. Rotary and several Canberra businesses are supporting the campaign.

“This project helps train women in challenging circumstances build and recover, giving their communities clean water as well as providing them with a chance to become independent and healthy members of the community,” says Sunny.

Sunny is now back home in Canberra and after eight years predominantly spent in Laos, he plans to establish Canberra as his base. With a team of international managers and staff on the ground, Sunny says he is now free to focus on other Abundant Water projects, such as Nepal.

And for those interested in volunteering, Sunny says he is keen to hear from you.

“We have an active volunteer team in Canberra including an internship program in Laos. We are looking for volunteers and keen to find a way to share what we do.”

For more information on Abundant Water, to contribute to the Nepal campaign or seek volunteering opportunities, visit abundantwater.org