Blog – The Waterbearers

Part of making history in the Amazon

jane — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 14:26:21 +0000

The Cooperation Roundtable for Conservation and Sustainable Development has been established in the province of Morona Santiago in Ecuador. Thanks to the provincial government’s leadership, the Prefecture of Morona Santiago and various institutions have formed a lasting and fruitful work platform.

The Waterbearers organization is honored to be part of this prestigious team of international conservation organizations and institutions in Ecuador. This cooperation fosters effective coordination, uniting efforts with a common goal: to guarantee sustainable resource management that conserves the incomparable Amazonian biodiversity while improving the quality of life of the Indigenous communities and strengthening their culture.

The meeting culminated with the cooperators’ signatures, marking a historical event in managing the Territory of Life and Ancestral Use of the three million-acre Tarimiat Pujutai Nunka Reserve, which is consolidated as a benchmark for sustainability, forest and wildlife conservation and climate resilience.

In the Ecuadorian rainforest, the Indigenous Achuar and Shuar people face many challenges, including polluted rivers from oil and mining extraction practices, making water unsafe to drink, and illegal logging contributes to further deforestation of the Amazon, where 1 in 2 children under five years old are chronically malnourished.

The Waterbearers has provided clean water solutions to remote communities worldwide. Donating to TheWaterbearers can significantly improve women’s and children’s lives in the Ecuadorian rainforest.

ONE Bucket Challenge

Guest — Sun, 20 Mar 2022 16:07:11 +0000

My Own Personal ONE BUCKET Challenge

by Angela Stanfield – Ontario, Canada

Water is so important for life. In western society we all depend on a ready supply of clean, filtered water that we can use to drink, cook, clean and bathe. This is not always true in other parts of the world. That is why organisations like The Waterbearers raise money to assist those in need of clean sources of water, and they promote challenges to others to bring awareness to the vital importance of access to clean water for everyone.

One such challenge was recently posted to take place in tandem with this upcoming World Water Day on March 22, 2022. It is called the ONE BUCKET Challenge. The concept is simple, use only the equivalent of one bucket of water to drink, clean, cook and bathe in for one day. The challenge is meant to ask one simple question, how would you prioritise your water needs and the needs of your family if you had only one bucket of water a day?

When I received the email about the challenge just after the New Year, I had immediately accepted it. I thought it was a beautiful and insightful way to engage people and to help bring the awareness closer to home. That, and I am always up for a challenge. However, as fate would have it, I got to experience the challenge in real life, long before March 22nd. It has helped me to learn a thing or two about water consumption which I would like to pass on to you should you decide to take on the challenge for yourself.

This year we have been having a particularly cold winter in central Ontario, Canada. The neighbourhood where I live is in a rural area and the water systems are old and antiquated, with the pipes not buried as deep as they likely should be. As a result, the entire water system for the whole neighbourhood froze solid and we were without direct access to water for nearly two weeks.

Fortunately, as a Waterbearer I have learned to keep clean drinking water on hand should we lose access. Power failures are also common in rural areas of Ontario and this can stop access to water as the pumps rely on power to work. For this reason, I always have water stored in the house to last for a couple of days. When the water froze, I was already prepared. Are you?

Now after a few weeks, with our frozen crisis averted and thankfully no pipes broken, I am ready to share a few tips and tricks that I have learned about prioritising water consumption.

Let go of the need to do laundry, or any major cleaning. If you are a bit of a clean freak you may have to step back from this and let it go. There is simply not enough water to do these simple daily chores. My family had to collect up their laundry and wait until we could get access to other family member’s washer and dryer at the end of each week. Since the bucket challenge is only one day, letting go of laundry and major cleaning will likely be relatively easy, but think about how you would manage if there was a prolonged water crisis. How would you juggle your resources to compensate?

Let go of showers and relax your personal hygiene requirements because there is simply not enough water. Get use to a small bowl of water being your only source to clean your body and brush your teeth. BEWARE, you have to plan ahead with the sequence of actions you are going to take or else you may accidentally use soap too soon, before you brush your teeth or wipe your face off. Here is my sequence: use water to wet toothbrush, after brushing teeth wash face using a wet face cloth, then apply soap to facecloth and get all the private and stinky bits clean as best you can. DO NOT put the soapy cloth back in the clean water. Discard the soapy cloth, get a new one, wet it in the bowl with some of your dwindling water and use that to rinse the soapy bits. When you have completed your body then rinse out the soapy cloth and use the use water to flush the toothpaste you spat in the sink down the drain. I found doing it this way made sure I got all the soap off my body so it did not dry out my skin and flushed all the waste down the sink. The most important part I used every last drop of water for something. Again, this may not be a difficult part of the challenge for most people because they can simply have a shower the night before and a quick wash the next would be no big deal. But imagine if you could not have a shower the night before. How long was it since you had a shower? What if you did not know when you would be able to fully clean yourself again? What would you do then? Once again, how would you compensate?

Separate your waste and waste water to use for various things. This involves talking about a rather gross subject but a very important one, human waste. In the western world we do not tend to think much about where our waste goes after it leaves our bodies. That is what the toilet is for, right. However, remember with the One Bucket challenge you would not be able to flush your toilet for the whole day, because one flush would use your entire day’s worth of water. My family and I simply could not flush because we did not have the water, so we got inventive. We separated our waste by peeing in our porta-potty and using the urine collected to flush the solid wastes we deposited in the toilet. The amount of water the western world uses just to flush waste is immense, but if that was not an option, what would you do?

Keep an eye on the amount of dishes and pots and pans you produce in a day. The more dishes, the more water needed to wash them. My family and I decided to eat as light a possible and to reuse the same cup, cutlery and plates throughout the day, just giving them a quick rinse with a wet cloth and vinegar. Then at the end of the day we would have a main meal and clean up all the dishes at once. We did not simply waste this water either. Once we were done the dishes, it was collected in a bucket and kept in the bath tub for times when the toilet needed flushing but there was nothing to flush it with. This is how I learned that every last drop of water can be used in multiple ways, multiple times. It also really got me thinking about the cycles of water in the natural world and how it is used in multiple ways multiple times over.

Remember to drink your daily intake of water. My family drinks a lot of water. Other than coffee, tea and the occasional juice all we drink is water, so for us not to have access is a big deal. I found that my family’s daily intake dropped a bit because they naturally wanted to conserve water. Try not to do this and remember if you have coffee, tea or other beverages outside the house on the One Bucket challenge that amount of water counts towards your usage. Many of us do not think about these things as we go about our day because we have ready access to them. However, we forget that there are people in this world who simply do not have the option to add beverages from Tim Horton’s or Starbucks to their daily fluid intake. Their water comes from a contaminated stream five kilometres away.

These are my ONE BUCKET Challenge tips and tricks for you follow if you decide to take it on. However, I would like to one up this challenge for those that dare to give it a whirl. Why not shut your water off for more than just one day, do it for two, three of four days? Get a real sense of just how important a role water plays in our lives. I never even talked about things like watering house plants or even our pets. Animals and plants whether in a home or on a farm need water too. How do we ensure they have enough water to survive?

The ONE BUCKET Challenge is a great first step for people to understand the importance of water in their daily lives. Please go to thewaterbearers.org to take up the challenge and encourage other to do so too. Remember to support The Waterbearers as they celebrate World Water Day on March 22, 2022.

The Ripple Effect

jane — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 14:07:33 +0000

The Waterbearers Organization: How Women Are Creating a Ripple Effect with Clean Water

BY JEAN TREBEK | OCT 15, 2021 | CHARITIES, FEATURED, GUEST WRITERS

The Power of Women

Clean Water… something that many of us take for granted… yet there are people all around the world suffering from water vulnerability.

A trio of women decided to do something about it and created The Waterbearers, a non-profit organization that helps bring clean water to in-need communities. Their efforts have been life-changing for so many.

We spoke with Jane Brinton, one of the founders of The Waterbearers and were so taken with the organization, their work and their apparent commitment to make things better for women around the globe that we are honored to present their story.

Here’s Jane…

Who are the founders of The Waterbearers and how did the organization begin?

The Waterbearers was co-founded: by myself, Jane Brinton, Erin Toppenberg, and Spryte Loriano (emerita).

The Waterbearers began as an idea when Spryte and I met in Ecuador. We shared our individual experiences of West Africa and recalled seeing women walking to fetch water that was contaminated. Simultaneously, we said “water bearers” and took this as a sign to take action.

In 2016, The Waterbearers launched its first fundraising campaign to Get One Million People Access to Clean Water by World Water Day, March 22. We inspired 100 women from around the world to accept our 30-day challenge. We were encouraged by the initial response with the potential to impact 320,000 lives. That impact had almost doubled by the second year, with all proceeds going directly to partner Waves For Water. By September 2017, The Waterbearers began to operate as a US-registered 501(c)(3) charitable organization under co-founders Jane Brinton and Erin Toppenberg.

The Waterbearers campaigns and donor support have helped to fund clean water initiatives in 33 countries through strategic partnerships, in-country organizations, and local community leaders. We have traveled to some of the most remote places on Earth, bringing clean water solutions to those in need.

“The Mission of the Waterbearers is to inspire women who have access to clean water to get it to those who do not.”

—Jane Brinton, Executive Director & Co-Founder, The Waterbearers

Please tell us about the current programs going on at The Waterbearers?

Currently, our programs include Ecuador, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, and Haiti.

During a natural disaster, we respond with relief efforts where and when we can.

After the recent horrific earthquake in Haiti, we knew that the number one priority was safe drinking water. Because we already had a partner, Waves For Water, in place, we could respond to this most critical need for safe water with “Buckets of Love,” including a *Sawyer filter kit, food and hygiene essentials.

However, emergency relief only provides temporary aid. It will take years to rebuild damaged water systems affecting more than 200,000 people, limiting their access to safe water for drinking and hygiene, putting them at risk of waterborne diseases.

Ecuador: In May this year, mudslides and torrential rain caused flooding in the Andes highlands near my home. Through donations and working with the provincial government we provided 100 clean water filter systems, and I met with 40 families who lost their homes. We also ran programs working with the local government and the University of Azuay to identify families in need and go out in the field to demonstrate to women how the clean water system works.

Sierra Leone: The Waterbearers has been working in partnership with The Village Link (TVL) in Sierra Leone since 2017, immediately following the country’s worst natural disaster, a mudslide that killed 1141 people and left thousands homeless. This partnership continues today. A grant from Rotary International enabled 220 households to receive filters and safe sanitation. Now with seven rain catchment systems installed in the southern district of Bo, almost 20,000 people have been impacted.

Zimbabwe: In January 2021, we began communicating with Precious Nyadongo (pictured), a woman who leads her Sisters Connected Trust in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second-largest city. Precious told us about several communities that were in desperate need of water.

We have helped five communities by drilling boreholes closer to their villages, giving them easier access to water. Decades of drought in Zimbabwe have forced women and girls to walk further in search of water. This burden is placed on girls at 12 years old, who often walk 20 km a day to fetch water.

Girls do not have the opportunity to go to school because bringing water is their number one chore. Now with water easily accessible, they have time to be more productive and to study.

As a result of having clean water, Precious has started growing food for her community and is teaching women in other communities how to do this both as a necessity and as a viable micro business down the line.

Jane, what do you personally spend most of your time doing for The Waterbearers?

As Co-Founder and Executive Director and “chief cook and bottle-washer,” I wear many hats.

I spend my time thinking of ways to raise awareness and manifest the donations needed to continue our work. I create new fundraising campaigns, design graphics, edit videos to post on social media and write a monthly newsletter to keep donors engaged.

As the primary contact person, I respond to new requests and communicate with our in-country partners regarding current projects. As only two of us handle day-to-day activities, it’s pretty much roll up your sleeves and get the job done.

The “Aha” Moment That Made The Difference

Can you give an example of how this organization makes a difference?

As a women-led organization, The Waterbearers, at its heart, holds the simple intention to bring clean water, light and love to those in dire need. Each year, we raise women’s consciousness globally through our awareness campaigns, thereby energizing women grateful for their privileged ease of access to water to help those who lack this human right.

In February 2020, I was in Sierra Leone, and Erin was in Uganda before the COVID lockdowns.

By establishing partnerships and building relationships worldwide, and by taking time to connect with communities, we gain a better understanding and love for each other.

The success of our program in Sierra Leone is based on this love and compassion.

What inspires you about The Waterbearers…can you share a specific story that has touched your heart?

What inspires me about The Waterbearers is how it started. The aha moment when I suddenly realized that a spark of creativity could cause women to act and lead to helping millions of people get access to clean water.

I have been doing this work for seven years and meeting people worldwide, but the one instance that touched my heart so profoundly was entering the home of four young girls in a slum area of Nepal.

The youngest, three-year-old Priya, sat on a swing outside. Their 32-year old mother had died just three weeks before we arrived from drinking contaminated water. The father was physically disabled and unable to work, so the three teenage girls cared for the family. Partnering with The New Hope Charitable Children’s Home, an organization that runs an after-school study program, a water filtration system was installed, and we provided 100 households with a filter.

Now, I sponsor Priya each month to attend an English-speaking school to help her get ahead in life.

Globally, more than 1.42 billion people, including 450 million children, live in areas of high, or extremely high, water vulnerability, according to new analysis released by UNICEF.

This means that 1 in 5 children worldwide does not have enough water to meet their everyday needs.

– According to UNICEF (March 2021)

Please consider making a donation to The Waterbearers today on their website.

What are The Waterbearers future goals?

Africa has shown us what can be achieved through the ripple effects of water.

By providing communities with access to clean water near their homes, the women and girls no longer have to walk long distances. With easy access to water and our proposed seed program, a community can grow crops providing each family with nutritious food and an opportunity to sell the excess harvest to create an income.

The ripple effect from clean water and sanitation means healthier families, and more time to be productive or study. The extra money they earn can help pay the school fees for each girl, empowering women and girls in the process.

We hope to team with other organizations to help replicate this program.

Is there anything that you wish more people knew about this organization and how can people get involved?

We began as a movement to inspire women through action, love and care for others. Our three pillars are Women, Water and Wisdom.

Women: We support all women who take ownership of their divinity and re-awaken their true strengths and intuitive nature. When women are empowered, they become an essential ally in protecting water, the environment, as well as their families.

Water: When we respect and fall in love with water, we stop taking it for granted. When we savor water both in our bodies and on earth, we change our relationship to it and each other.

Wisdom: We need to embody compassionate leadership that inspires unity with loving, generosity, appreciation, and respect for the planet.

The best way to get involved is to become a Waterbearer and fundraise or donate monthly by joining The Waterbearers Circle.

Even sharing our stories on social media will help our organization grow. https://thewaterbearers.org/get-involved

The Waterbearers

The Waterbearers use Sawyer PointOne filter kits that are portable, easy to use, affordable, with the ability to take out 99.999% of natural bacteria. Each filter can produce enough clean water for 100 people a day, and last up to 10 years.

LEARN MORE

BY JEAN TREBEK

Jean is a Professional Religious Science Practitioner, Reiki Master and Sound Healer. She grew up on Long Island, NY, and now lives in Los Angeles. She has two wonderful adult children, Matthew and Emily, with her beloved late husband, Alex. Jean enjoys taking long walks, watching movies, and traveling. She is very grateful for her family, friends, Luna (the dog) and good coffee.

Water for Zimbabwe

jane — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 13:56:29 +0000

Thanks to all those who supported The Waterbearers’ World Water Day 2021 fundraiser on March 22, and to Precious Nyadongo in Zimbabwe who brought another community in need of clean water to our attention. On April 19, a solar-powered borehole was installed in the rural community of Battlefield. Now, more than 2000 people will have sustainable access to clean water that can last lifetimes.

For the past decade, this area has been prone to severe droughts making it almost impossible to reach a water source. When the river runs dry women dig with their bare hands to search for water that may be just beneath the river bed. Reaching the underground water source is a costly undertaking that most rural communities cannot afford. The drilling machine had to cut through several layers of granite and bedrock to get to the water 140 meters (500 ft) down.

“I am beside myself with joy!” Says Sukoluhle, a 35-year-old mother of three. “Getting water is easy now that I don’t have to walk so far, and I have more time to be with my children.”

Before the borehole installation, Sukoluhle walked 15 km (9 miles) to fetch water from the river. She used to do this twice a day. Even so, the water was not safe to drink, and people often got sick from drinking the water, and the nearest healthcare center is 20 km away.”

Sukoluhle continues, “My dream for myself is to be able to empower others, and I want to say thank you very much to The Waterbearers for helping to make this a reality.”

Girls start fetching water when they are 12 years old

This is Gugulethu, she is 12. Before the borehole was installed, Gugulethu used to walk 2 hours to and from the nearest water source. She did this, three times a day starting very early in the morning before school, in the afternoon after school, and in the evening, just before helping her mother prepare dinner. The water from the river is not safe to drink and it often made her sick.

Since The Waterbearers provided this clean water system closer to her home, it now only takes Gugulethu 5 minutes to get water. She has more time to concentrate on her studies, time to read books, and help her mother set up a garden to grow vegetables. Also, she will have time to play with other girls her age. Her dream is to do well in school and go to university to train to be a nurse. She dreams of her family living a comfortable life.

On behalf of her friends the same age, she would like to say thank you to The Waterbearers for changing her life, and the lives of other girls in her village. Changing their lives in a very positive way.

BRITISH EXPATS GET THEIR HANDS DIRTY FOR A GOOD CAUSE

jane — Sun, 10 Nov 2019 18:09:33 +0000

November 9, Cuenca, Ecuador. Ten British expats were “corralled” by the recently appointed Honorary British Consul Gary Manners, to join in a Minka with the Prefectura of Azuay to help plant trees in rural Tarqui.

Gary Manners with Jane Brinton

Gary and his handful of merry Brits got down and dirty, digging holes, planting trees, and shoveling dirt alongside indigenous families from the surrounding communities.

About 500 people joined Yaku Pérez, the Prefect of Azuay, also known as the Prefect of Water and Life to plant 2500 trees along the Tarqui river starting at the entrance to Tarqui to the Cumbe station (about 3 kms). The event known as a Minka, was organized by the Prefectura’s office of Environmental Management.

Bonnie Caleno and Marsha Lay

John Keeble and Gary Manners

Julio Martinez and Agi Orosz

A Minka (collective work), comes from the Quechua minccacuni, meaning “asking for help by promising something.” In Spanish it’s Minga; It is an Inca or pre-Columbian tradition of community or collective voluntary work for social or reciprocal purposes.

https://thewaterbearers.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Minka.mp4

Yaku helps with The Waterbearers demonstration by first collecting water from the river. An enthusiastic crowd watch from above and a line quickly formed to taste the water after it passed through the filter. The Sawyer PointOne filter removes 99.99999% of all bacteria, such as salmonella, cholera, leptospirosis, and E.coli, and protozoa (such as giardia and cryptosporidium), and 100% of microplastics.

Yaku collects water from the rIver

https://thewaterbearers.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/98d37c52-a355-44c2-ac33-028a58c43594.mp4

For the indigenous, this human act of giving and sharing supports each member of the community and creates a sense of belonging through the principle of reciprocity, like sharing food in a pampamesa. Pampamesa is one of the most common solidarity manifestations in the indigenous world, it is still pracaticed in rural communities and in cities in most of Latin America.

The parish of Tarqui is located 30-minutes southwest of Cuenca, and the local people are very proud of their history. The Battle of Tarqui, also known as the Battle of Portete de Tarqui, took place on 27 February 1829 at Portete de Tarqui, near Cuenca, Ecuador. It was fought between troops from Gran Colombia, commanded by Antonio José de Sucre, and Peruvian troops under José de La Mar.

“Had it not been for a handful of 1829 battlefield decisions, Cuenca could well have been a Peruvian city today. Historians say the outcome of the Battle of Portete de Tarqui could have gone either way. – Sylvan Hardy https://cuencahighlife.com/victory-at-the-battle-of-tarqui-in-1829-meant-that-cuenca-is-ecuadorian-and-not-peruvian/

Jane Brinton is Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Waterbearers

Water plays a pivotal role in how the world mitigates and adapts to the effects of climate change.

jane — Sat, 19 Oct 2019 12:46:11 +0000

The global climate crisis is inextricably linked to water. Climate change increases variability in the water cycle, inducing extreme weather events, reducing the predictability of water availability, affecting water quality.

Agriculture accounts for 70% of the world’s freshwater to grow produce and sustain livestock. Corporate farms that can afford the “longest straws” get the water, often leaving neighboring farmers with dry wells.

Water scarcity

By 2025, 50% of the world’s population will be living in water-stressed areas – World Health Organization

Human population is expected to increase from 7.1 billion to 9.3 billion, creating serious water supply problems – UN Water

What can we do?

Respect water, save, and savor it! Don’t abuse water. Our lives depend on it.

FILTERED WATER CURES MAN IN UGANDA

jane — Sat, 20 Apr 2019 13:15:46 +0000

In March 2019, while visiting rural communities in Uganda for The Waterbearers distribution and training program we met a young man, Pastor Modi Emmanuel Victor from Wampologoma Village who shared his story. As we walked along the banks of the River Nile, he explained what happened to him a year ago.

He was visiting the village where he grew up, and after working in the field for 8 hours was hit by sunstroke, which is a severe heat illness that results in the body temperature rising over 100°F causing confusion. It was very hot and the sun was beating down on him. He had no shade, not even a hat. He drank water, but not all water is safe to drink. Even after collecting water from a well it needs to be boiled. “Sometimes they don’t have time to boil the water or filter it. It takes a lot of firewood to boil water for the entire family and it costs a lot of money for charcoal. In Africa, you leave the water outside in order for it to somehow get cold after you boil it. Then you feel like – ah the water is OK,” says Emmanuel, who is known as Emma to friends.

His condition worsened and he asked to be taken to the hospital where they tested his blood and diagnosed him with a serious case of malaria. The family took him to another clinic and again, he was diagnosed with malaria and typhoid. Many hospital facilities in Uganda lack medicines, and when they are available, they are too expensive. So, all in all, he was told he could not be cured.

He reached out to another friend, Pastor Buni Alex and asked to be taken to another hospital. “I took him to the largest hospital in Jinga, and they also confirmed he had malaria and typhoid. The water he was taking was affecting him internally” says Buni.

“I got typhoid because of drinking water that was not being boiled.” Says Emma.

Last year, entrepreneur, coach, and teacher Marty L. Ward visited Uganda for the first time to teach children and adults with her TAG program Confidence Eliminates Bullying (CEB), a nonprofit based in Florida. Marty reached out to The Waterbearers to see if she could bring the Sawyer filters to Uganda. We trained Marty via a Skype call and she brought 5 filters to Uganda.

One of those filters was installed in the TAG office, and Buni suggested that Emma start drinking the filtered water. Religiously Emma used the water filter because he lived close to the office. He got the rare chance of drinking safe water. Now one year later, he is no longer sick from typhoid or malaria, and he continues to feel that his body is OK, and he is healthy.

The need for clean water is great in Uganda, and providing water filters can save lives. Throughout the rural areas, children walk several times a day to fetch water that is unsafe to drink. We cannot yet solve the problem of them walking to a well to fetch water, but we can help them stay healthy when they get it home. Yet another chore is alleviated as they no longer need to collect so much firewood for boiling water.

Jane Brinton is Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Waterbearers

WHEN THE WELL’S DRY

jane — Tue, 01 Jan 2019 15:29:14 +0000

“When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.” – Benjamin Franklin

CLEAN WATER FOR GOLU

jane — Sat, 17 Nov 2018 13:38:45 +0000

The Waterbearers partnered with The Village Link to build two rain harvesting systems in rural Sierra Leone. The children in Golu just learned that clean water is coming to their school.

CLEAN WATER TO SLUMS IN POKHARA NEPAL

Pat Simmons — Thu, 25 Oct 2018 16:57:36 +0000

After meeting up with Jane Brinton Co-Founder of The Waterbearers in Cuenca Ecuador not long after we first moved there, we discovered that we had similar interests in helping others. I found out she was headed to Nepal and I got so excited because I knew I was headed there too about the same time. So the planning began. My nonprofit, New Hope Charitable Children’s Home (NHCCH), was involved with Joint Education for Poor Children (JEPC) in Pokhara Nepal. JEPC had been in the process of converting a run-down private home into a study center for the slum children. The goal was to provide a place for the children to study in the morning before school and a place to study after school. In turn, we would provide funds for remodeling the study center, provide food twice a day to the children and help with educational costs and other needs.

Tej, the founder of JEPC, was asked to do a water assessment for the slum area. He provided the information to thewaterbearers.org and we finalized our plans to meet up in Pokhara Nepal and take Jane, Erin, and the others on a tour of the study center and the slum area. They, in turn, would complete a more detailed assessment of the needs for clean water and provide filters for the study center and the slum area. I had not seen a demonstration of the water filters, so I was very excited to see how it all worked.

The group looked at the water system currently in place at both the study center (which NHCCH had installed) and the water systems used by the people in the slums. We noted that many of the small water storage units contained at individual homes were uncovered and dirty. One home in particular housed 3 young girls and their paralyzed father. The mother had recently died of hepatitis caused by dirty water. This really brought home the need to have clean sources of water for the community.

After touring the slum area, we returned to the study center where we were given a demonstration of the filters. The filter was installed on one clean bucket. It was a very simple process and I wondered how something this simple could possibly result in clean water. I was amazed when a bucket of water was filled with dirt and then that water was put in the bucket with the filter. But even more amazing was what came out of the bucket with the filter. It was clean pure water. I even drank some just to see how it tasted. Delicious!!!!! Oh my goodness, I was truly in awe by what the filter was able to accomplish.

Further discussions with thewaterbearers.org and with Dan Wright from My World Is My Country, resulted in the decision to also use ultra-violet light as an extra precaution for the children who were at greater risk. Dan, who lives in Kathmandu, will be working with engineers to design the system for the slum area in Pokhara, which will benefit over 700 people. Additional filters were left with the study center to provide clean water to as many people in the area as possible until the new system was in place.

I cannot really put into words what a wonderful experience this was and how much I appreciated having Jane, Erin and the rest of the group visit the study center and the slums. Their contribution to this area will help prevent the threat of water-borne diseases, which take so many lives. I look forward to continuing to work with thewaterbearers.org and hope anyone reading this will take the time to donate to this absolutely amazing, life-saving cause.

Pat Simmons is the President of NHCCH.