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.

An African Reflects on Clean and Dirty Water

by Hadiara Diallo

Recently, I looked at pictures of clean and dirty water taken during my last trip to Niger, West Africa.  

There were a few shots of the surrounding village of Tchibarey.  These photos remind me that while much of Africa struggles to find clean water sources, during the wettest season, the ‘marigaux’’ encircling the village was high enough to force us to get out of the car and walk through the water embankment so we could get to the village.  Although locals were happy for the rain, one can’t help but wonder why countries throughout Africa are not taking better advantage of methods to recapture water for future use.

By sharing my pictures, I thought you might get a clear idea about what water looks like in my part of the world, which is further described by Pete Brach in his blog: Why Clean Water for Africa?  Certainly, the adage: ‘’A picture speaks a thousand words” truly applies in this situation.  So, while my blog Struggling To Find Clean Water In West Africa describes dismal conditions, pictures of the muddied murk of dirty water drive the point home most directly. Please take a quick look at them and see what people in Tchibarey and many West African villages use for cooking, bathing and drinking!  Do you not agree that everyone living in Africa and elsewhere has a right to clean drinking water?

In Niger, the consumption of unsafe water is the source of many ills for the population in the areas of health, employment and education. By donating money or time to Wells Bring Hope, you are helping Africans move out of poverty and into jobs.  Please join us in our fight to bring clean water to Niger, West Africa, the third poorest country in the world.

Reducing Death and Disease with Safe Water

 by Kristin Allen

My entire house is a germ-ridden nightmare.  Both my 11-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son have the miserable stomach flu that is terrorizing everyone.   It is not pretty here right now, to say the least.  I am pumping them both full of liquids to keep them hydrated, and I am washing my hands about every 45 seconds, to try to keep myself from getting sick.   It is no fun, but it made me think about the time I spent in Niger, West Africa, in January 2012.  The trip broadened my understanding as to how having water – safe water – is essential to staying healthy, and how and, believe it or not, WHY people die when it is lacking. 

                                                              {photo by Gil Garcetti}
The one thing I didn’t understand prior to my trip, is that when there is no safe water source in a village, the people do not die of the type of dehydration that is depicted in movies:  lost in the desert with no water at all.  Instead, what happens is that the villagers find a water source – however, contaminated – and use it to “survive”.   Women and girls walk hours and miles a day to disgusting, disease-ridden water holes.  One time, I saw a water hole that was simply a pit dug deep enough into the earth that water would simply seep in.  The water that was pulled out was brown from the mud and other debris in the hole.   At some point during the day, all of the water would be taken out, and there would be no water to be had until more seeped back in – typically the next day.  Another time, I witnessed women fetching water from a small lake.  It seemed like a better alternative, until I saw the livestock that were defecating and urinating into it as they drank from it themselves. 

{photo by Gil Garcetti}

When water is such a scarce commodity, it takes women and girls hours a day to carry it back to the village, that it is used for one thing only: consumption.  But consumption is a double-edged sword.  Frequently, the contamination in the water causes terrible intestinal problems and diarrhea that then leads to severe dehydration.  How can you possibly combat dehydration from diarrhea, when the only thing you can drink is the poison that caused it in the first place?  This is why diarrhea is the second leading cause of death in children under 5 years of age in Niger.

What about prevention of disease?  When there is no safe water source in a village, the water is too precious to use for hygiene.  It is second nature for me to wash and rewash my hands to try to prevent the flu from knocking me down, but this simple habit of hygiene is not an option for villagers in Niger who do not have a safe water source.  However, once a village has a safe water source, the villagers can start to learn about the importance of hand-washing to eliminate and reduce illness and infection.   Simply washing hands can cut the risk of diarrhea up to 50 percent.

                                                                {photo by Gil Garcetti}

Trachoma, the leading cause of preventable blindness, is spread from person to person.  It is a huge problem in Niger.  Trachoma is caused by bacteria, and one of the best ways to prevent it is by washing your face and hands – an impossibility when water is scarce.  However, a village with safe water has the “luxury” of using water for hygiene.  Diseases can be virtually eliminated by the villagers, simply because they are able to wash their faces and hands.

                                                            {photo by Barbara Goldberg}

Safe water creates an avalanche of benefits:  Girls can go to school and avoid the permanent, crippling deformity and injury that results from the weight of water carried on their heads.  Trachoma can be virtually eliminated in a village; and diarrhea doesn’t have to be so deadly. All of this from one, simple well.

                                                                                                                                                                      

                                                            {photo by Barbara Goldberg}

Sustaining Today’s Wells Beyond Tomorrow: Part 2 Technical Capacity

by Nick Baldry

 

{source: VanDammeMaarten}

I have a broken faucet.  It’s the one in my front yard, used for hooking up the hose when I want to try and fight the California sun and keep my lawn green.  Considering the importance of water to people in underserved communities around the world, it’s kind of embarrassing to admit that while they struggle to find clean water, I happily pour the stuff on the ground for the sake of improving the aesthetic appearance of my front yard. 

Or at least I used to because, as I said, that faucet is broken and, as I’m not the most technically minded individual, it will probably stay in that state of disrepair.  For me, this represents the mildest of mild inconveniences. If that faucet were my only source of clean water, it would be a different story.  It would be life threatening.

As Wells Bring Hope’s wells are the only source of clean water in the communities we serve, a malfunction like the one my outdoor faucet suffered is life threatening. Diseases such as cholera, diarrhea and bilharzia become real threats to the health of people who don’t have access to clean water.  That is why ensuring the sustainability of a well is a vital part of our intervention, and one key component of that process is making certain that the technology used in our hand pumps is appropriate to the area in which they are used.

This blog has already highlighted the consequences for the WASH sector when this principle is ignored.  Cindy L. Kurland’s excellent case study of PlayPumps International (which can be found here if you haven’t already read it) highlights how an attention-grabbing project that drew funding from the U.S. government, the Case Foundation, and a number of celebrities began as a nonprofit marketing dream but quickly became a technical nightmare. 

The notion was that the local children would play on a merry-go-round, which would generate the energy needed to draw water up from an underground well.  Sounds like a great idea, right? Unfortunately, PlayPumps International failed to consider a few major flaws in their design.

·    To meet PlayPumps’ stated targets, each pump would need to be in constant motion for 27 hours a day.  Obviously, this creates an insurmountable problem. 

·    During periods of high demand for water, such as early morning and late evening, there were often too few children playing to meet the demand, and during inclement weather, there was no guarantee that children would want to play at all.  This begins to make the PlayPump model look less like a fun solution to a serious problem and more like child labor.

·    Due to the technical complexity of the PlayPump system, a malfunction would be nearly impossible for villagers to fix on their own.  It cannot be overstated that a malfunctioning pump in a rural community creates a life-threatening problem.

Well’s Bring Hope’s drilling partner, World Vision, has over twenty years of experience installing hand pumps.  This simpler design has a twofold benefit.  First, it is less likely to break down at all. Secondly, if it does malfunction, it is much easier to bring back into service with the limited resources available in rural villages. 

Another essential component of a technical sustainability program is ensuring that local residents have the skills required for resolving any problems related to a malfunctioning pump.  According to the GLASS report for 2012, only 27 out of 69 responding countries reported that they had sufficient staff numbers to support their existing drinking-water systems.  This means that even simple problems can lead to a well being out of service for prolonged periods of time or even abandoned completely. 

When villagers are given ownership of their well and are given the resources and skills to resolve any issues that come up, the likelihood that the well will continue functioning over the long term are dramatically increased.  Out of the 180 wells we have funded since 2008, all 180 are still functioning. 

                                                                                                     {souce: Gil Garcetti}

Our aim is that the wells we install in partnership with World Vision will remain functioning beyond their advertised lifespan.  Making sure that the technology is simple and reliable and that the villagers have the technical capabilities needed to resolve any issues that do arise are huge steps toward achieving that long-term sustainability goal. 

My inability to fix my broken faucet will, at worst, result in the withering of my lawn, and maybe a few angry neighbors, but when residents of a village in rural Africa cannot ensure that safe water will be provided, the consequences can be life-threatening.

Wells Bring Hope Holiday Party

On December 2, 2012, Wells Bring Hope Founder and President Barbara Goldberg once again opened her home to WBH supporters and volunteers for some holiday cheer and a celebration of a another successful year.


WBH Vice President Gil Garcetti announced that the organization has funded 180 wells since its inception in 2008. That's over 100,000 lives transformed by clean water!


The party was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with old friends and meet new ones.


Barbara used the party as an opportunity to announce the launch of Wells Bring Hope's new online store. Her granddaughter Lia was an obliging model of one of the WBH items available for sale in the new store!

Giving Tuesday

With Black Friday, Small Business, and Cyber Monday, it's easy to forget that the real joy of the season is found in the giving! Kick of the holiday season today by making a donation to Wells Bring Hope on this first national day of giving.