Meet Sam

One of Abundant Water’s vendors in Long San District of Xaisomboun Province shares his story of selling clean water filters in northern Laos.

Sam Nam is 26 years old and works with our partner organisation, the Association for Community Training and Development (ACTD), selling water filters in nearby villages. “Nearby” in Laos often still requires travelling long distances, which can be particularly challenging in the mid-year wet season, but Sam is happy to do it. He really enjoys the social aspect of selling and helping people improve their health by teaching them about the Abundant Water filters.

Sam gets to meet lots of new people through his work. Most people in Long San District are Hmong ethnicity, and luckily Sam can speak several languages including Hmong, Lao, Khmu and English.

Abundant Water filters make it cheaper for people to access clean water and helps improve their health. Sam has been selling the filters for about two years. He likes to show potential buyers examples of the filters along with pictures of how they are installed. Since Sam began this work 86% of households surveyed in Xaisomboun villages where filters have been sold have reported they have saved a lot of time from no longer having to boil water. As Sam says, everyone needs an Abundant Water filter, and he hopes to be able to promote them to all the villages in his district.