South Africa - Water - Playpump helps a community

The shadow of a PlayPump tower and tank is framed by people queuing for water at a squatter community in South Africa. The energy of children having fun on a playground merry-go-round nearby has pumped this water. There are now more and 1,000 of these innovative PlayPumps in sub-Saharan Africa providing clean drinking water to more than one million impoverished people. The spinning motion provided by the children pumps underground water into a large tank raised above the ground from where it is dispensed via a tap. The storage tank has a four-sided advertising panel. Two sides are used to advertise products and the other two sides are devoted to public health messages about topics such as HIV/AIDS prevention. The result is clean water, recreation for children and allows the community to spend more time in productive activities. (Photo by Gideon Mendel/Corbis via Getty Images)