Improve access to safe water

Don't Take Water for Granted

Sharline Chiang — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 22:33:02 GMT

Imagine if, each time you turned on the faucet you really thought about how precious water is. Took time to appreciate it and took time to be aware of how much you use. Try it.

give access to clean water for free!!

bea dupont — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 18:15:16 GMT

You can click once per day on the three following sites:

http://www.ripple.org/ : you give 6 days access to clean water (you can click on the 4 causes)

http://www.cliquesemiarido.org.br/ : you help families of the semi-arid Brazilian to build their tanks. The average value of each reservoir is $ 1.800,00 (R$ 1.800,00 ) including costs such as labour-intensive, materials, training courses, among others. Each click is R $ 0.08

http://www.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.straatkind.nl%2F&langpair=nl%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF8 : give daily € 0.10 for access to clean water in Chad! Beware to enter the right code! If you made a mistake with the code, the page says " De door u ingevoerde code is incorrect". In that case, click on "hier" to enter a new code!!!

Also, you can use the search engine "goodsearch" http://www.goodsearch.com/ and select the charity "playpumps international"

And if 100 000 people join the facebook group called "The Green Spider", they'll give free water for 10 000 people in third world countries:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5218237182

http://www.freewebs.com/clickforcharity/

Bio-Sand Filters for Water Purification in Caserio El Amaton

Darlene Charneco — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 05:34:01 GMT

Location
EL SALVADOR
Volunteer Coordinator(s)
M. Gregory of WI
Funds Needed
$12,702.63
Original Request
$14,202.63
Project Number
519-091
Community Contribution
$14,131.43 (50%)

CaserÃo El AmatÃ³n is a farming community of 120 families located in Western El Salvador. Water scarcity and contamination are serious problems in the community. The Health Promoter estimates that 95 â€“ 100% of the residents of CaserÃo El AmatÃ³n suffer from parasitism.

The objective of the proposed project is to install slow sand filters in the homes of 120 families of CaserÃo El AmatÃ³n, El Salvador, and train residents in proper use and maintenance of the filters and correct personal hygiene and environmental sanitation practices. The filters will help families to purify water for drinking, cooking, and hand washing. The projectâ€™s goal is to improve community health, primarily through reduction in the frequency of diarrheas caused by fecal coliform bacteria and water-borne parasites such as amebas, Giardia, Cryptosporidium, and helminthes (worms), all of which the filter is capable of removing.

The Peace Corps Volunteer assigned to El AmatÃ³n, the Health Committee of El AmatÃ³n, and the Health Promoter will conduct community meetings and house visits to educate families on the link between poor hygiene and disease, proper use and maintenance of the filters, and personal hygiene and environmental sanitation practices in general. They will also conduct follow-up visits to beneficiary families to monitor filter use and health indicators.

The estimated budget for the project is $28,334.06. The local community will provide $14,131.43 in monetary collaborations for the filters, labor, volunteer work in hygiene and sanitation education, and parasite medication (secured from the local Ministry of Health). $14,202.63 is requested in Partnership funds.

Please contribute to this project here:
https://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/donors/contribute/projdetail.cfm?projdesc=519-091&

These project summaries are written by Peace Corps volunteers and their host communities.

Drinkable Water for Cameroon

Darlene Charneco — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 05:30:26 GMT

Location:
CAMEROON
Volunteer Coordinator(s)
J. Fugo of NY

Funds Needed
$5,097.00
Original Request
$9,202.00

Project Number
694-093
Community Contribution
$3,031.00 (25%)

Almost 140 people of the neighborhood of SONG YEM in the village of MBENG either use the only clean water source in their village, which is almost a kilometer and a half from their homes, or they find themselves taking drinking water from sources which are unprotected and often containing water born illnesses. Often times the community drinks from these unprotected sources and thus, suffers from illness.

The solution for this problem is creating a clean source of drinking water for the neighborhood of SONG YEM. To do so, the community saved money to bring in a technician who could look at possible water sources and also give an estimate of costs for a clean water source. In this visit by the specialist, it was determined that any natural sources were difficult to access and would also be difficult to make drinkable. Therefore, it was decided that the people of SONG YEM should try to put in a well, with filter, manual pump, and a basin for lost water in order to have upkeep and sanitation.

The benefits of this future well are clear. It would provide almost 140 people with clean drinking water a close distance to home and therefore largely decrease the number of daily water born illnesses that impact SONG YEM due to the current lack of accessible clean water. However, funding the construction of a well is impossible for the community to do alone. It is with that hope that they are soliciting the aid of Peace Corps Partnerships.

Please contribute to this project here:
https://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/donors/contribute/projdetail.cfm?projdesc=694-093

These project summaries are written by Peace Corps volunteers and their host communities.

Importance of sanitation!!

Deanna Ford — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 18:46:26 GMT

Check out this insightful post by John Sauer of Water Advocates on the under-realized importance of sanitation:

Sanitation needs more cheerleaders

charity:water

Robin Weekley — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 19:04:19 GMT

charity: is a nonprofit organization stimulating greater global awareness about extreme poverty, educating the public, and provoking compassionate and intelligent giving. (from charityis.org)

Charity:Water exists as a campaign to raise awareness and funds to help combat the world water crisis around the globe. Since their inception 1 year ago, Charity: Water, with the help of well-implementing non-profits abroad, has built 200 wells in 6 African nations. When those wells are up and running, 100,000 people will have access to clean, safe drinking water.

After immense success in their first year, Charity:Water is celebrating their anniversary and the birthday of founder, Scott Harrison, by asking for a donation of $32 dollars to go towards a deserving project in Kenya. The new well will provide safe water to a hospital that currently is forced to gather water directly from a muddy river nearby.

To get involved, check out Charity:Waterâ€™s September campaign or read more about water and Charity:Waterâ€™s goals here .

Living Water International!

Robin Weekley — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 16:57:36 GMT

Living Water International is widely known as one of the best water organizations out there, not only for their well drilling and pump repair, but also for the way in which they involve others in the work that they do abroad. The main purpose of Living Water International, as taken from their website is: â€œ...to demonstrate the love of God by providing desperately needed clean water and medical attention, along with the "living water" of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which alone satisfies the deepest thirstâ€

With these goals in mind, LWI trains and equips over 60 mission teams and a multitude of well workers each year to go out and help build wells, repair pumps, teach health and hygiene and form relationships with the communities where they work. LWI currently operates in 21 countries around the world, bringing much needed water to places that would go without otherwise.

If you want to see Living Waterâ€™s work on the ground and take the trip of a lifetime to help provide water to those in need, check out LWIâ€™s training programs across the U.S and mission opportunities around the world.

To learn more about Living Water International, become more aware about the water crisis and learn what you can do today to make a difference, go here ...and join the Living Water International Group on Razoo! See you there!

The Joy of Water

Robin Weekley — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 16:57:03 GMT

It's often said that big things come in small packages; in the case of Play Pumps International, this old adage couldn't be more right on. Who would have ever guessed that children, young and old, playing on a merry-go-round could bring water to entire communities? Who would have known that the smallest members of society could help usher in such great change?

It's been 13 years since the first PlayPumpÂ® water system was installed in a small community in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. While attending a South African agricultural fair in 1989, Trevor Field first saw the work of a local engineer who had attached a children's merry-go-round to a water pump; as children spun, water pumped. In response, Trevor and his business partners launched Roundabout Outdoor, an organization that would provide fresh, clean water to communities in need using the merry-go-round/pump system along with a large storage tank and relevant advertising about HIV/AIDS crisis. Although the project started small, by 1997, they had installed 20 pump systems in needy communities across South Africa and had plans for many more.

In 2000, Roundabout Outdoor won the World Bank Development Marketplace Award for its creative solution to the water crisis and effective messaging about HIV/AIDS, gaining significant publicity and support from around the world. The organization, now known as PlayPumps International, is headquartered in South Africa with over 900 PlayPump water systems installed in the last 10 years across South Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland, and Zambia.

With 1.1 billion people in the world currently without access to clean, safe drinking water, PlayPumps International exists not only as a necessity, but also as a fun way to address a very serious need. Unsafe water and lack of sanitation is responsible for 80% of disease and illness in the developing world; with a well, communities are able to grow, develop, and thrive. Kathleen Grealish, Director of Partnership Development for PlayPumps International, believes that access to safe water is a crucial piece of community development. "Clean drinking water is arguably the centerpiece of community development and affects the individual members of each community so profoundly," she says.

As a PlayPumps International team member, Grealish has had the opportunity to visit PlayPumps sites and witness the benefits of the merry-go-round within communities.

"For me, visiting schools that benefit from PlayPump systems is an incredible experience, particularly getting to hear the children singing as they spin. It definitely is a sense of happiness that you take with you. The community members were very appreciative of the PlayPump system and the opportunities it provides. One group of teachers we met decided to use excess water to plant a vegetable garden in the schoolyard, providing a nutritious supplement to their school feeding programs. Seeing how one small act we may make through a donation creates so many opportunities for others to make things better for themselves was uplifting!"

The nature of the PlayPump system is entirely unique in its approach; as the children sit, spin and run around the merry-go-round, the water is pumped from deep within the ground through a series of pipes that run it into a storage basin above ground, and the water is then accessible to community members at the simple turn of a tap. The storage basin allows continual (and sustainable) access to clean water at all times, so that residents are able to live free of the myriad of waterborne diseases and extreme distances they formerly had to walk to gather water. With greater health, community members are able to attend school, work, and participate in other activities that illness kept them from in the past.

As Kathleen Grealish has discovered, water, a seemingly insignificant commodity to us, has the ability to really change lives. "In each community I visited I was struck by how happy the people were. Despite not having all the things that we take for granted on a daily basis, they seem much happier, warmer and more welcoming. It reminded me that the things we strive for in terms of material goods can never bring real happiness." But as children run around, laughing and singing, they are providing the water that will change the chemistry of the community they live in; they will, in their joy, bring clean water to their families, friends, and neighbors.

It is that profound happiness and life change that keeps PlayPumps Interntional constantly growing and pushing for more pumps, in more communities, in a variety of countries across Africa. "In total, 4,000 PlayPump water systems will bring the benefits of clean drinking water to up to 10 million people in 10 countries by 2010, enabling improvements in health, education, gender equality and economic development."( from playpumps.org).

For more information, visit Play Pumps