Gardens Flourish in the African Desert

by Hadiara Diallo

As a seventh grader at the Chadwick School in Palos Verdes, CA, Kate McEvilly, was inspired when she first heard Gil Garcetti talk about the desperate need for safe water in West Africa. When she entered high school two years later and was able to formally start a club at her school, she officially launched the Wells Bring Hope Club. With her passion, drive, and determination, Kate attracted over 30 volunteers. One year later, they had raised enough money to drill a well in the village of Mossipaga in rural Niger, West Africa.
                     
                               
In mid-January 2013, I made a trip to Niger and visited that village to dedicate their well. On the certificate was a picture of the some of the members of Wells Bring Hope Club at Chadwick School.  



The villagers welcomed us with great jubilation.  Their joy was infectious as everyone chanted and shouted to express their appreciation.  Getting safe water in their community was huge: it meant that babies would not die needlessly and that their children would have opportunities they only dreamed about.

The villagers were astounded to learn that it was group of teenagers who made their miracle of safe water possible.  I told them about the hard work, creativity and dedication of these young people to initiate many fundraising drives in the effort to raise money for a well. The people of Mossipaga will be forever grateful for this gift and hope to someday personally welcome the students of Chadwick. After accomplishing their initial goal, these very determined students are now raising money for another well because they know how much safe water means in the developing world.

As Director of Microfinance for Wells Bring Hope, a major goal of my trip was to get a better understanding of how our microfinance program is progressing.  When women no longer have to walk miles to get water, their time is freed up to earn money and improve the quality of life of their families.

One of the most important economic development activities that women can engage in is gardening. In Mossipaga, gardening is not about planting flowers and beautifying homes; gardening is a matter of survival.  After the rainy season, there are no water sources available to sustain farming, so in the past, the land would stay idle for 8 to 9 months.  Now, the women are able to grow these lifesaving gardens, providing food on a year-round basis. 

                        

The gardening activities fulfill two purposes. First, they provide food for the women’s families and improve their diets with the growing of vegetables. Second, they enable women to sell vegetables in the local market and become mini-entrepreneurs. The direct benefit of these gardens is evident: a healthier, stronger population, kids who are well nourished, and women who are newly empowered income-earners.

With help from agricultural technicians, the women are given some basic tools and taught ways to collect natural compost to enrich the soil. And what do they grow? Salad greens, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, okra, and cabbage.  The women I spoke to were elated that they had been given the opportunity to be so productive, that they can earn money for the first time in their lives. They love their work and feel so much pride in their accomplishment.

Chadwick, this is a job well done, a well-deserved ‘A+’ in global citizenship!

If you'd like to support Chadwick in their efforts to fund a second well, please click below.

The Cost of Dirty Water

{photo by Barbara Goldberg}

The Millenium Development Goals and Wells Bring Hope

                                  

by Jessica Isaac

Millennium Development Goals -- How Safe Water Can Help

Millennium Development Goals - the phrase may sound complicated, but the motive behind it is simple and straightforward. MDGs, as they are referred to, are eight international development goals established by the United Nations following the Millennium Summit of 2000. All 193 United Nations member states have agreed to achieve the following eight goals by 2015:

1.   Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

2.   Achieve universal primary education

3.   Promote gender equality and empowering women

4.   Reduce child mortality rates

5.   Improve maternal health

6.   Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

7.   Ensure environmental sustainability

8.   Create a global partnership for development

The World Health Organization has reported some promising statistics regarding the progress of some of these goals, but we are a long way from achieving success. The three goals listed below are near and dear to us here at Wells Bring Hope because, as we know, access to safe drinking water is often the solution. Each well that is drilled in Niger not only brings Nigeriens one step closer to achieving goal 7 (environmental stability), but also helps reduce child mortality (goal 4) and makes it possible for women to become educated, thereby improving maternal health (goal 5). Each goal listed below has a minimum specified target that will satisfy the MDG as well as estimated statistics from the World Health Organization, which is tracking international progress. 

1. Reduce Child Mortality (Goal #4)
Target: Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate

                         

{photo by Barbara Goldberg}

Progress via WHO.int: 

-In 2011, 6.9 million children under five died, compared with 12 million in 1990-Between 1990 and 2011, under-five mortality declined by 41%, from an estimated rate of 87 deaths per 1000 live births to 51

-The global rate of decline has also accelerated in recent years – from 1.8% per annum during 1990–2000 to 3.2% during 2000–2011

Projection via WHO:

"Despite this improvement, the world is unlikely to achieve the MDG target of two-thirds reduction in 1990 mortality levels by the year 2015."

How Wells Bring Hope can help:
In West Africa, the most common cause of death and disease comes from contaminated water. Babies often die from diarrhea, an ailment that can be cured by replacing this contaminated water with clean, safe water. 

2. Improve Maternal Health (Goal #5)
Targets: Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio and achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health

Progress via WHO.int:
-a significant reduction in the number of maternal deaths – from an estimated 543 000 in 1990 to 287 000 in 2010

Projection via WHO.int:
"Despite a significant reduction in the number of maternal deaths the rate of decline is just over half that needed to achieve the MDG target of a three quarters reduction in the mortality ratio between 1990 and 2015. To reduce the number of maternal deaths, women need access to good-quality reproductive health care and effective interventions. In 2008, 63% of women aged 15–49 years who were married or in a consensual union were using some form of contraception, while 11% wanted to stop or postpone childbearing but were not using contraception."

                      

{photo by Gil Garcetti}

How Wells Bring Hope can help:

Women and girls bear the burden of walking 4-6 miles a day to reach a water source, usually contaminated. The task is labor intensive and prevents girls from going to school. Women spend most of their day getting water, having little time to do anything else. They suffer chronic pain from this physical burden and constant stress from having so little time to complete other tasks. When they have access to safe water, women are healthier and less likely to suffer complications during pregancy. In addition, when girls have the opportunity to go to school, they tend to marry and bear children later, drastically reducing the likelihood of maternal death as well as the chance of obstetric fistulas, a frequent consequence of early childbearing.

3. Ensure Environmental Sustainability (Goal #7)

Target: By 2015, halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation

Progress via WHO.int:

-In 2010, 89% of the population used an improved source of drinking-water compared with 76% in 1990

-Progress has been uneven in different regions.

Projection via WHO

"With regard to basic sanitation, current rates of progress are too slow for the MDG target to be met globally. The number of people living in urban areas without access to improved sanitation is increasing because of rapid growth in the size of urban populations."

How Wells Bring Hope can help:

The most important aspect of drilling a well is to insure its sustainability. When a well is drilled, we begin the process of teaching villagers how to maintain it and take ownership of it. Ownership of the well belongs to the village and they are responsible for its maintenance. This is very important for building pride and a sense of responsibility. 100% of the wells drilled by Wells Bring Hope have been sustained and are fully functioning. In addition, WBH is well aware of the importance of sanitation. In every village where we drill a well, we also build latrines and educate the villagers about the importance of using them. We also provide ongoing education on hygiene, and we teach mothers and children the value of hand and face washing.

When you support Wells Bring Hope, you are supporting the progress of the Millenium Development Goals.

                   

Happy Valentine’s Day

{photo by Gil Garcetti}

The Basics

by Christine Eusebio

{source: Nasa Goddard Photo and Video}

The ever-increasing presence of the internet in the day-to-day lives of people all around the world gives us the sense that our massive globe is not so big after all. However, even as our knowledge of the world expands, our physical existence is necessarily limited, and we can really only see the world through the prism of our own experiences.

The more we learn about ourselves, the more we realize how dependent we have become on the internet and technology. Checking emails is as much a part of our morning routine as brushing our teeth. Without our gadgets, we feel naked -- like something is missing.

                                                                    {source: blaircook}

With this intense focus on technology and connection, and with all of the convenience of our modern society, it is easy to forget that our actual, primitive needs are really very few. While we worry about the hustle and bustle of our daily schedule, while we panic about misplaced smartphones, the people of Niger worry about how they will get what we have in abundance: safe, clean water.

We are just minutes (even seconds) away from our water coolers at work and the filters on our faucets at home, so it easy to understand why access to water something that most Americans never worry about. The situation is quite different in West Africa. The women and girls of Niger have to walk many miles to get water, water that is often contaminated. As a result, they have time for little else, education is an unlikely dream, and 87% of Nigerien women are illiterate.

When a well is drilled, women’s time is suddenly free to pursue other productive activities like farming and raising livestock. These activities allow the women to earn money and provide for their families, an example which creates a positive, healthy atmosphere for their children, especially their daughters.

                  

{photo by Gil Garcetti}

Support our cause. Don't let your compassion well run dry. Fill it with water.

                      

Help Save a Life

by Pete Brach

Can You Give Three Minutes A Week To Save A Life?

Of course most of us want to save a life, but who has the time?  Wells Bring Hope has an easy answer:  by simply broadcasting our messages to your social network you can help save lives, empower women, educate girls, and change a village for generations to come.  That is a powerful and meaningful contribution you can make toward improving our world!



Imagine 

What would happen if one thousand people on Facebook, Twitter, and elsewhere sent out or retweeted our messages three times a week?  We would reach at least half a million people a month. Multiply that by twelve!



Facebook Users:  Please begin by liking us on Facebook.  Our postings will then show up on your news feed; then it's as simple as clicking the “share” icon to add our posts to your own Facebook wall.

Twitter Users:  Begin by following us on Twitter.  Then please retweet our messages, reply to postings and/or recommend us on Follow Fridays.

That's it! By adding us to your social network and inviting your friends to do the same, you can help us spread the word about the water crisis in West Africa and everything that Wells Bring Hope does to help.