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Frankly, isn't boiling considerable amounts of water for hydroponics (to get it pathogen and bacteria free you need to boil it 15-20 minutes at least) a crackpot idea anyway?
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Crackpot idea or not, it works just fine and very well in this country. I would be very surprised if it didn't work anywhere else. It's the best way to sanitize water that I can think of. You could add iodine tablets, or use chemicals, but then you would just need to filter it out before you could use it for hydroponics. And with no money for a filtration system, I would think boiling it would be the only way to go, if you really wanted it to be free of living organisms. It only takes 2-5 minutes at a boil to kill any living organisms. Nothing living can withstand that temp for that long and survive. We learned that way back in camp, to make water safe to drink.
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And for the economic part of it, as I understood that was the actual argument, I have full understanding as even here in Thailand no-one would ever spoil a match nor light a fire for such purpose.
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Well, perhaps I am much more sheltered than I imagined. It must be terrible not to be able to light a campfire without having to worry about using up your resources. I don't know how much water is needed for their hydroponics system/s, but it wouldn't need to all be boiled at the same time. I was thinking of finding a metal 55 gallon drum in a trash pile somewhere, cleaning it up real good. Then build a fireproof place to set it, using old bricks, rocks or something. Then starting a small fire underneath it, using wood (not coal), to create a nice bed of hot coals to boil it with. Then only adding more wood when needed. That would contain and direct the heat where it was needed, using as little resources as possible.
I never claimed to be the sharpest knife in the drawer, or even claim to have all the answers. But I do know, if you have the will, you will eventually find the way. If matches were out of the question, there is always the old tried and true method of rubbing two sticks together. Personally, I wouldn't think it would be considered a waist of resources to improve a much needed and vital food source. Especially for an orphanage in one of the poorest countries in the world. I would think that would make it just that much more important.