Product review (5 stars): East African Villagers LOVED IT!
<div id="video-block-R2FPUQ2LQDNXRQ" class="a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block"></div><input type="hidden" name="" value="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/B1pi2-xEgKS.mp4" class="video-url"><input type="hidden" name="" value="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61%2BdNYRtbuS.png" class="video-slate-img-url">I recently traveled to Uganda (East African country) in October 2013. I had purchased this machine years ago for my own use and loved it. So I took it to a friend of mine who is a missionary in Africa for her to use. We both work as volunteers for a health care organization called Kissito.org. Kissito works with villagers in Africa to bring health and maternity care to villagers. So we demonstrated the washer to them after learning that the girls in African families must do all the family laundry each day before going to school. If they don't finish the laundry, they must miss school. Hoping to show the families something that could help them do their laundry well, and do it quickly, we took the machine into the villages. This video clip is one of a local villager who transports patients to the local health clinic demonstrating the machine to a group, including teasing a boy who is trying to turn the handle. This is the machine in action!

What I love about this machine is it is pretty sturdy, since it withstood a year of my daily use, plus it survived 500 African villagers cranking on it all in ONE day!

If you thought red Georgia clay was hard to get out of clothes, you haven't been to Uganda, east Africa.  These villages have no electricity, no paved roads, lots of kids (average family has 7 children) and lots of dirty clothes. Families there LIVE in dirt huts, farm, play, work and have the dirtiest clothes imaginable, yet the WonderWash got load after load of clay and dirt soiled clothing CLEAN! The villagers were amazed, as was I.

I mean after all, my gym stains and smelly, lightly dirty clothes I expected to get clean, but the grime and dirt that rinsed out of the WonderWash when put to a REAL test was stunning. It was SO effective our organization is trying to find a way to get MORE machines to Africa. Why? Because the girls in each family are tasked with washing the family's clothes every morning before leaving for school. If they don't finish the laundry, they must MISS school to do so. WonderWash could CHANGE the world simply by providing the ability to wash clothes fast enough that these girls can do the laundry and get to school on time.

WHY WONDER WASH ROCKS
It's lightweight, yet sturdy. I mean, after all it stood up to the rigors of a hike and trip in the back of an SUV on really rocky, difficult roads to get to an African village! It traveled TO Africa in a plastic tub packed with medical supplies, and survived the airline's handling without a crack or scratch!

It is easy to assemble.

It's durable. More than 500 villagers each had a chance to crank on the handle over the period of ONE DAY as we moved into three separate villages and demonstrated the machine with clothes the villagers brought to us. Kids, men and women of all ages and strengths gave it their best and it kept on working!

It cleans! At one village we received a pair of pants a toddler had soiled himself in, a bloody towel from a health clinic, a pair of men's pants used by a man herding cattle and soiled with manure, and several very delicate, beautiful and colorful women's dresses, plus a large scarf. We washed them ALL in one load and they ALL came out CLEAN! Plus, they smelled GREAT!

I can't say enough GOOD about this machine. I used it in the USA for a year until I got a car and could go to the laundromat where there was also a dryer. The only thing NOT to like about this washing machine is you do have to wring the clothes out and hang them up to dry...not a big deal. It works and for the price there's nothing better! I love it!