Tayler collected donations for his Water Project.

Tayler has always loved Africa. He is fascinated with the animals and wants to visit one day. While he was eating a watermelon one day, he told his mother he wanted to send the seeds to Africa so they could have watermelon for food. When his mother, Kerry, explained that Africa does not have a lot of water and watermelon might not be able to grow, Tayler  wasn’t satisfied. “They couldn’t grow watermelons without water, so I wanted to send them water,” he said. Together, he and his mother looked online to see how they might be able to do that, and they found The Water Project.

Tayler’s first $500 for his water project came from asking family and friends to contribute to his water jug when they came to the house. He then put jugs in public places – a local store, the gym his mother goes to, and the secondary school where she teaches.

Still wanting to do more, Tayler and his Mom approached the school, LaSalle Secondary School, to make a presentation. He did a slide show for approximately 200 students, and even  put a jug on his head to demonstrate how they carry water in Africa. The students were so motivated they did a Walk for Water, walking the streets with jugs on their heads to raise money for the project. Tayler’s influence multiplied as he and the students collected money for the well, going to houses and telling about the project. Together, they added another $3,400 to the project!

LaSalle Secondary School students join Tayler on his Walk for Water.

Determined to earn enough to complete a project, Tayler is still working to reach his goal and as of this writing has raised almost $4,000!  Check it out! Tayler says he was surprised at how much money he raised and to learn about how so many people do not have clean water in Africa.

His advice to other people who might want to help with their own water project?  ”Do a good job, and work hard.”

Do a good job, and work hard. Simple advice, but so very wise. Tayler’s project can remind us of the infinite possibilities created when we do just that.

Want to help Taylor reach his goal? Donate to his fundraising page. Together, it can happen.

Back in January I wrote a blog piece detailing the beginnings of our Public Health Campaign in Turkana, Northern Kenya. You can read that piece here. A couple of months later, and things are really starting to move. James Lobokan is coordinating the campaign from Lodwar Town, and his latest report really gives an insight into the potential impact of the initiative. TWP is committed to this part of Kenya for the long term, and the 18 month programme is broad based and varied in it’s content. Here’s a summary of what’s happening on the ground:

The three main areas that we are focusing on are Kakiring Village, Lolupe Village, and House of Hope Orphanage. James is responsible for running hygiene promotion programmes with the people at these three centres, as well as ensuring that the water management committees are functioning well and that maintenance issues are being dealt with properly and efficiently.

One of the main things he’s been helping community members do is register their committees as self help groups with the government and, thereafter, open bank accounts. Households are required to contribute a small monthly fee for maintenance of the facility, which ensures against future breakdown. This is often a weakness of water and sanitation systems, as communities fail to maintain their contributions over time. We’re hopeful that with official registration and the regular visits James is undertaking, contributions will be consistent.

At this early stage in the campaign, James is also working to establish the main areas of concern regarding community health. For both Lolupe and Kakiring heath facilities are as far as 20km away. James is a trained physician, and is able to treat minor ailments in the field, but moreover he is working hard to educate the people about personal health issues, and is focused on helping people access facilities where ever possible. We see collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health as vital in these efforts, and again James is working to ensure the community are aware of how best to access services.

Clearly a key aspect of health is nutrition. Therefore, alongside the hygiene and public health focus, James is also training local people on agricultural practices. At House of Hope there are already two greenhouses in operation, as our partner SERV International works hard on food security. Using the orphanage as a model, James is currently identifying individuals to be trained in greenhouse management at the village level. In the future we dream that these recently settled communities will be able to improve their access to nutritious food though growing their own tomatoes, kale and  other vegetables.

So it’s a great start. Hygiene, community management of water supply, public health education and agricultural training wrapped up in a complete package. We’re delighted at how well things have started, and look forward to sharing future aspects of this innovative programme.

Thanks for reading!

The place was packed from wall to wall for Classen High School’s “Wish Week” Open Mic Night. “Wish Week” is five beautiful days where the students of Classen come together and put on a variety of amazing events and crazy fundraisers to raise money for clean water.

Throughout the night there were songs, poems, and some really impressive art work all created by the students at Classen. To be honest, not all of it was “American Idol” perfect. It didn’t have to be. There were plenty of wrong notes, miffed lyrics, and shaky hands delivering poems in public that were written in private. But the night was so much bigger than that, the things that brought us together more grand. Out of tune guitars were soon fixed and there was never an awkward silence that didn’t receive a reassuring laugh and cheer from the crowd.

Last Monday, for about 3 hours, we were a family. What mattered was a cause that brought us together. Every piece of art, every stanza, every song (good and bad) was our way of dreaming up a new world together. A world where every one has access to something as simple, beautiful, and powerful as clean water. Our open mic night had become the overture for a symphony about to play out across the world.

Students of Classen SAS Wish Week Fundraising Crew

By this Friday, the students of this small inner city high school are going to have raised their goal of $10,000. I won’t be surprised if they beat it. Their power comes from a community who are beginning to realize their creative potential to do good in the world around them.

My hope is that you would join us in doing the same.

To support the students of Classen SAS Wish Week donate here » 

You can start your own Wish Week or other campaign too…

Learn about Wishing Well

–
Ryan Groves
Wishing Well

Rylie’s Girl Scout troop worked together to learn about the water crisis and contribute to a well project.

Have you ever felt like you can’t possibly make a difference? Oftentimes we feel powerless to make any lasting impact in the world we live in, but 4th grader Rylie refused to believe that.  She educated others and brought people together with the common goal of raising money to build a well.  Rylie proves that together we can do great things and shows that the power of determination can be stronger than any perceived obstacle.

Rylie first became involved with the Water Project in 2011 while her Brownie troop was working on a badge.  The girls learned about the scarcity of clean water in much of the world, and they contributed funds from their cookies sales to the project.  Their contribution in and of itself is wonderful, but what is most impressive is the knowledge that Rylie carried forward from that experience.

Last year her 4th grade class studied the global impact of clean water, and the children were overwhelmed by the problem.  They wanted to do something to help, but they felt there was no way they could make an impact.  That is, until Rylie stepped forward and told her story.

Jennifer, Rylie’s Mom shares, “It’s been amazing. This is the second project we’ve done. Last spring, my Girl Scout Troop contributed funds from our Cookie Sales. The Girls Scouts have a badge that has a water component and we found your  organization during that project. Fast forward to this year and my daughter’s class was studying the global impact of water. The children were distraught at how limited clean water is and how it is used around the world. They also felt very powerless to impact the issue. That is, until my daughter came back to the class with the proposal of collecting funds for the water project!!!!”  If we as adults often feel powerless to effect change in the world we live in, it would seem to be even truer for children who have no perceived power for change – no consumer power, no voting power.  But not Rylie – she remembered the work her Brownie troop had done.  She explained to the class the work that the Water Project does and suggested they collect funds.

But the story doesn’t stop there!  Rylie’s class went on to create presentations and collection boxes for all of the other classes in the school.   Not only is the whole community more aware of the global water issue, but they were determined to raise enough money to build a well.  All of this the fruits of a young girl who only saw what could be done.<

The young can inspire us in so many ways, but we oftentimes let what we see as limitations hamper their abilities and our own.  We can look to Rylie to see the possible and shed our doubts.

See the impact Rylie, her Brownie troop,  and Anne’s 4th grade class fundraising has had; and be inspired!  Rylie proves that together we can do great things and shows that the power of determination can be stronger than any perceived obstacle.

Together we can do amazing things when we all do something.  What action can you take?

Our team, serving locally this Christmas at a food bank here in Concord.

We have big plans for 2013 and we need your help to make them happen.

Would you take a moment to read this important letter from our founder and consider how you’ll join us?

Read: Growing Deeper in 2013
A Letter from our Founder »

Community members at Kakiring use the TWP funded water source.

Northern Kenya is a challenge, conditions are tough and success is not guaranteed. Mobilising equipment from Nairobi is time consuming and expensive, and the road north is slow and dangerous. But despite the challenges we’ve had great success. The children at House of Hope are able to focus on their learning, the people of Kakiring no longer need walk for hours everyday to collect water from the river.

So what’s new? Well, over the past few months we’ve been talking with our partner SERV International about maximising the benefit that clean water brings. We want to build upon the hygiene and sanitation training that comes as standard in our work, and develop a public health agenda that demonstrates a long term commitment to the welfare of the people with whom we work.

To that end, TWP is committed to developing, funding and  supporting an 18 month Public Heath campaign in Northern Kenya, with a focus on the children of House of Hope, the people of Kakiring, and those of a neighbouring community, Lolupe.  The campaign will focus on regular community level visits, reinforcing health and hygiene messages and empowering communities to engage with local government and the health care provision in and around Lodwar Town.

During the programme, staff will be focusing on the following issues:

• Hand washing
• Disease transmission routes and how to block them
• Household sanitation
• Human waste management
• Menstrual health
• Accessing local services
• Managing a water point – Operation and Maintenance of project hardware
• Nutritional understanding
• Agricultural knowledge and skills

It’s a broad focus, but one we feel confident about. Once the programme is up and running we’ll be able to report of specific programme activities and experiences from the field. It’s an exciting programme, with a demonstrable long term focus on developing local knowledge and skills, and we feel it will impact greatly on the lives of those we are committed to.

It all kicks off in January 2013. Watch out for more updates as things get moving!

Delta Sigma Theta is “A Sisterhood Called to Serve”. Four core principles of the sorority are Courage, Hope, Wisdom, and Strength. To-date, over ten Delta Sigma Theta chapters have donated to the clean water projects we do, raising over $15,000 when combined. For the Harford County Alumnae chapter, by hosting this community-based event, the 100 participants in Maryland are unlocking the potential of over 350 people in a community 4500 miles away in Sierra Leone.

But one event wouldn’t do for DST-HCAC. They already have their 2013 event scheduled for June 22nd, and are beginning the planning. Are you in the Maryland area? Mark your calendar and join the team as they walk, run, and laugh to the finish-line of this fabulous 5K. Can’t join them? Support their efforts by giving to their 2013 fundraising page, here. Together we are better; and serving together we are a force.

Here at The Water Project we have a reading list.  We challenge each other with concepts from the books we read.  Books on international development and theologies of service often top the heady list.  But this summer, it wasn’t one of those books that touched me the most. Instead, a little book that Becky Pichler told us about really grabbed my heart. Becky is a teacher from Wilson Elementary in West Allis, Wisconsin and she shared with us how her classroom of 4th and 5th graders read My Heart Will Not Sit Down together this past year.  Then, in response, they worked together to help fund a water project!

The story takes place in Cameroon where the main character, a young girl named Kedi, learns about the Great Depression of the 1930s and of children in New York City who didn’t have enough to eat.  Kedi just couldn’t forget the children in New York and her ‘heart could not sit down in peace’ until she did something to help.

One passage really captured my attention.  In it, we hear Kedi’s Mama question her plans to help.

Mama replies, “How can we send money to people whose faces we have never seen?”

But give they did…

Wow!  I thought… That’s exactly what Becky’s class did through The Water Project.  They gave money to help people they have never seen.  Their class, along with thousands of others just like you, give to those who don’t have access to clean water and sanitation.  When you do, you stretch outside yourself, so others can have what you have… access to clean safe water.  Pretty compelling if you ask me!

But the story doesn’t end there, as we love to say. Kedi’s story, while fictional, is not just a feel-good story. It is based on an actual event where a community in Cameroon gathered from their meager financial means and donated $3.77 to the children of NY city. And while they never saw the faces of those they helped in New York, Ms. Pichler’s class will.  In just a few months, they will see pictures of the families they helped.  You can too, by tracking the water project to be constructed in Uganda. Just click here.

I wonder sometimes if we think we are the only ones who give. That’s one of the reasons I love this story. It shows the heart of a young girl across the ‘great salt river’ reaching out to meet the need of someone who she has never met. Her heart tells her that she can meet the need, somehow, someway. As was written many years ago to a community in Corinth, “Right now you have plenty and can help those who are in need. Later, they will have plenty and can share with you when you need it. In this way, things will be equal.” It really is a story of sharing, from the heart.

So how about you? What has made ‘your heart stand up’ on behalf of others? Share it with us!

Alex and Murray are cycling from Johannesburg to northern Lake Victoria.

In February of this year, Alex Antrobus and Murray Beaumont, two young South Africans, began cycling 10,000km through sub-Saharan Africa to experience what life in rural Africa – and the struggle for fresh water – are really like.  One of their goals is to help raise over $15,000 to support a water project!  Another was to visit some of our work…

“On the journey we will visit some of the communities that have been reached by development NGOs like The Water Project, who provide funding and management to build wells, boreholes and other water providing infrastructure. We will also be visiting some of the communities that have yet to be reached and seeing how desperate they are for life giving water.”

Above: Alex and Murray charted their bike course and then over-laid our GPS-mapped water points to plan a couple stops along their route.

Children wash hands at a TWP Project site.

Just this past week they arrived at one our of favorite new partners in Kenya – IcFEM.  We are so pleased to hear first hand accounts from water projects we recently funded.  It’s obvious how they are helping in the communities IcFEM serves.  The Amazi Awethu team noted…

“In several communities people living near to the schools [where projects have been installed] have been able to open small businesses thanks to the pumps – like vegetable gardens and brick manufacturers… As an organisation, IcFEM seems to be making real progress in empowering the Kimilili community to help itself. “

The Water Project began work with IcFEM late last year by providing funds to not only build wells, but also to hire and train staff in water and sanitation (WaSH).  We are greatly expanding our work with IcFEM in 2012-13 with 42 water projects planned alongside over 100 hygiene interventions at local schools.  It looks to be quite exciting and your donations make it possible.

You don’t want to miss the rest of what Alex and Murray found when they stopped by.

Click here to continue reading on their blog »

I spent most of last year living in Kenya. A lot of that time I was working directly with our partner organisations, working through program strategies and contributing to project proposals. It was a very fruitful time, and led to new relationships as well as the strengthening of existing ones. As well as the office based work, I also spent a lot of time on the road, visiting projects, talking to communities and trying to get a genuine sense of the impact our work is having.

This is Elizabeth, a member of the community at Kakiring.

Whenever I think about impact, I think about Kakiring. The people of Kakiring village, a few kilometers south west of Lodwar, are inspiring. I first travelled the long and bumpy road from Kitale to Lodwar in 2010, on a feasibility study for one of our partners, Bridge Water Project. I had been living in Kakamega, Western Kenya, and helping to restructure the project when the opportunity came up to travel north. I jumped at it. An old gentleman called Geoffrey was looking for partnerships to help him support the people of Kakiring, and I agreed to travel with him to meet the people and take a look.

The days I spent there 2 years ago have never left me, and so when I was in Kenya last month I made it a priority to pay Kakiring a visit, and confirm that the borehole and hand pump scheme we worked on last year was serving the community and that the people were able to look after it correctly.

The handpump in use at Kakiring

It was fantastic to see. The pump was serving the people of Kakiring as well as the neighbouring villages. The 3 hour walk to the river was no more, and people looked visibly healthier. Children’s faces were shiny where once they were dull, and there were places to discreetly have a bucket shower behind every hut. I was welcomed like a true friend. We ate githerie (maize and beans) under the stars, and danced to the beat of the drum until the moon rose high into the night sky. There was a sense that things were getting better in Kakiring, and an energy that comes from achieving something tangible.

Jackson Ewoi and myself catch up after a long time!

The overflow from the borehole had been encouraged into a channel which led into a fenced plot ready for cultivation. These semi nomadic pastoralists were thinking of planting. A first tentative step away from the reliance on food aid that is the norm in this part of the country.

Everyone talks about impact all the time, and struggles to quantify it. Numbers served, diseases reduced or eliminated. Children in school. Dishracks, washing lines, and latrines in homes. Income generating activities. All of these are indicators of positive impacts that water, sanitation and hygiene projects can achieve. And I think about all of this too, but sometimes when I think about impact, I just think about Kakiring, and the genuine relief written all over the faces of those whose lives have been transformed through access to a functioning handpump.

What the future holds is not clear for such marginalised peoples, but it is great to see Kakiring pull together, look after their supply successfully, and start to make plans for the future that are based on the goal of self sufficiency.

I’ll be back there soon I hope, and look forward to working with the people as they take the next step forward.