Stella and Celestine

Stella is one of my newest friends. She’s going to turn 4 years old soon and she’s starting school Monday, Jan. 5. It’s a new school year for her. She goes to school at the CBSM school in Kimilili, Kenya. (Community Breakthrough Support Mission, it’s an orphanage.)

Kimilili is a town right about on the equator near the border with Uganda. It’s an agricultural area. The school moved to Kimilili when the first school in Kayole Soweto, Nairobi was burned down during post election violence in January 2008. The Army took them all 600 km to Kimilili and the farmers there figured out what to do with 250 children and their teachers.

Stella started school after her third birthday. The Mission was just getting settled into a building in Kimilili. She was in the equivalent of pre-school in the US.

But Stella had some difficulty focusing. She was sickly and missed a lot of school. She’ll do the first year of school again in 2009.

This is how the last year or so went for Stella:

• Her father died of AIDS when she was 2.
• Her mother became critically ill and could not care for Stella and her older sister Celestine.
• The girls were cared for full time by CBSM until a government health inspector closed down the home until improvements were finished. The school kept operating.
• The girls went to live with an elderly grandmother who couldn’t care for them well. But the girls could still go to the school for most of the day.
• During one of her visits to the Doctor Stella tested positive for HIV.
• She failed preschool but got an A in cute.

So Stella is excited to start her first complete school year. The improvements to the home for orphans will be finished soon. Plans are in the works for drilling a well for clean water. And the farmers in the area are generally supportive of the school and other projects CBSM is working on.

Say “Hello” to Stella in a comment here. Her teachers will read the messages to her and you just might get a response. (Remember, she’s 3.) If you have children, consider letting them get involved. One of the school’s goals is to help children learn about the outside world.

Meet the Nabuurs

CBSM is on Nabuur. (It’s pronounced like neighbor but it’s spelled funny because it’s the internet. Or maybe neighbor is spelled funny.)

Their website says:

NABUUR makes it easy to make a difference

Nabuur.com is an online volunteering platform that links Neighbours (online volunteers) with Villages (local communities) in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Connected through Nabuur.com, Neighbours and local communities learn about each other, share ideas and find solutions to local issues.

Everybody has something to offer, and everything is done online.

Do you have a little spare time and the desire to make a difference?

You’ve probably figured out the rest of the story. I was poking around the internet looking for clean water stuff. Somehow I found Nabuur and the first project I looked at had Reverend Wasike Wilberforce Walubengo’s picture and a request for someone to “Be the one to update our community’s blog with updates on the progress.”

I figured I had an hour or two I could blog about their clean water project. An hour or two turned into a bit more than that. I’ve met Rev Wasike, Lia in Germany and Moses, Daniel and Ron who are somewhere in Kenya. (I’m still matching names and faces.) The team is doing all sorts of things around Kimilili. They’re not waiting for the government to take care of them.

Best of all, I got to learn about Stella and other kids. I’ll be posting more of their stories on the CBSM blog.

So now the pitch for volunteering: Take a look at Nabuur. I don’t know what kind of time you have. But think about it. This is way better than helping out at the library or hospital. This is volunteer work you can do in your pajamas.

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A Zulu man wearing water lens glasses.

Clean water can help more than thirst it seems.

British inventor Josh Silver has come up with a design for glasses with water filled lenses. The wearer can adjust the lenses to his liking without the need for an eye specialist.  Opticians are one in a million people in Africa. So the glasses are a big hit there.

300,000 pair are in use now. Silver’ goal is 100 million.

Core 77 quotes The Guardian:

The implications of bringing glasses within the reach of poor communities are enormous, says the scientist. Literacy rates improve hugely, fishermen are able to mend their nets, women to weave clothing. During an early field trial, funded by the British government, in Ghana, Silver met a man called Henry Adjei-Mensah, whose sight had deteriorated with age, as all human sight does, and who had been forced to retire as a tailor because he could no longer see to thread the needle of his sewing machine. “So he retires. He was about 35. He could have worked for at least another 20 years. We put these specs on him, and he smiled, and threaded his needle, and sped up with this sewing machine. He can work now. He can see.”

Again, it’s not a lack of technology that keeps the poor in poverty.

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Here’s my last water post of the year. Not a lot of comment. The slide show does a good job of speaking for itself.

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The future of clean water.

I’m filing this under “We Got Enough Smarts, Do We Have Enough Willpower?” in my clean water files. Here’s a fifth grader who has some interesting ideas about clean water. His mom blogged about him on Peachy Green:

Matt’s invention is designed to help clean up rivers . . .  He has come up with a way for us to do this automatically, without harming fish that live in the river.  I think his “Aqua-Bridge” invention sounds pretty advanced for a 5th grader!  Did I mention how proud I am? more…

OK. When you read the whole thing, you realize two things:

1. The kid is pretty bright. He’s taken a lot of issues into consideration.
2. The plan needs work. Hey, he’s a fifth grader, he’s still got enough time to refine the idea before he drops out of college to start a company and become a green millionaire.

So here’s the part where you can show that you are smarter. How about we do this.

Don’t throw stuff into the river.

That would include stuff from cars, boats, picnics on the river bank, factories and chemicals you can’t find anywhere else to dump. I mean, come on, it’s the 21st century. Do we have to bring the crying Indian back?

Sadly, I think this kid may yet get to make his millions picking peoples trash out of rivers.

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Extreme poverty in Nigeria despite of huge national wealth.

Lisa Ling, Special to CNN reports:

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (CNN) — Trash litters its cities. Electricity is sporadic at best. There is no clean water. Medical and educational services are limited. Basic infrastructure is severely lacking.

Nigeria’s corruption agency says between $300 billion to $400 billion in oil profits has been stolen or squandered.

These are not conditions that should plague one of the richest oil states in the world. Hundreds of billions of dollars has been made from the Niger Delta’s oil reserves and many people have gotten very rich. Conversely, the average Nigerian has suffered as a result of the country’s oil prosperity. The United States Agency for International Development says more than 70 percent of the country lives on less than a dollar a day — the population is among the 20 poorest in the world.

Oil companies are only part of the equation. The other is the Nigerian government. Transparency International, a global organization intent on stamping out corruption, has consistently rated Nigeria’s government one of the most corrupt in the world. more…

No clean water. That’s a sign of government dysfunction. In this case it’s corruption.

Nigeria could be one of the wealthiest countries in the world. There is plenty of money to provide clean water and sanitation. It is not a question of affording clean water. They have the means. Or some do.

The article goes on the describe an interview Ling was able to get with members of the , or MEND. The group wants to rid Nigeria of oil companies and “foreign influences.”

I can’t judge if that’s a beneficial goal. But it is basic political science. The government is not meeting the needs of the people and the people seek change.

We may not like to admit it, but the best way to get clean water to people is to change governments. Either change their thinking or change who governs.

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Villagers in Luputa carry pipe for a water project, photo via LDS Philanthropies

LDS Philanthropies Humanitarian Services Clean Water Fund has a unique, and I think superior, approach to providing access to clean water.

Two features I like:

• Local communities take part in planning, building and maintaining the water projects.
• No administrative costs, no fund raising costs- all donated money goes to build water projects.

From the Clean Water Fund webpage:

Working with local community leaders, Humanitarian Services provides access to clean water with wells and other water systems where no such service is available.

Volunteers from the village provide labor to install and maintain the wells to ensure their long-term operation. Local contractors are employed, and a local site supervisor is appointed to ensure the work is performed as agreed. Each village establishes a water committee to oversee the maintenance of the facilities.

Involving the community helps local people feel an ownership of the project, an important cultural consideration in the long-term use and proper maintenance of the water supply.

Stretching Contribution Dollars

The death toll in Zimbabwe’s recent cholera outbreak is over 500. The water borne disease has claimed victims throughout the country. Nearly 11,000 people have been infected in the past few weeks. Remote areas report a fatality rate up to 30%. Neighboring Botswana and South Africa are poised to be next.

Cholera has been well under control in this region of Africa for several decades. In the last 10 years, cholera returned with an annual outbreak in the country. Now, as the southern hemisphere nears summer, the outbreak could claim more than in 1992 when 2,000 died.

Zimbabwe was once the bread basket of Africa. Food was plentiful, the economy was thriving and diseases like cholera were not a problem. Good sanitation and clean water wipe out cholera.

So what happened? The country’s sanitation system is collapsing. The water utility in the capital, Harare, has run out of chemicals to treat the water. Throughout the country, electricity is scarce. People can’t boil the water so they just use it.

All this can be traced back to Robert Mugabe. He intends to be president no matter what anybody says. He’s done everything he can to keep power. Lately, he has refused to use that power for the good of the people. His dictatorship has brought famine, debt and disease.

Unfortunately, Robert Mugabe has provided a clear example of the relationship between good government and clean water. Zimbabwe, currently, has neither.

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Image via Wikipedia

Providing for the basic need of clean water is a primary responsibility of any government. I applaud Dr. Derek Sikua, a leader of a developing nation who understands good government.

New Zealand’s Scoop Independent News posted this:

Friday, 28 November 2008, 10:39 am
Press Release: Solomon Islands Government

PM Says Gov’t Committed To Provide Greater Access To Clean Water And Sanitation

Prime Minister Dr Derek Sikua today has reiterated his government’s commitment to provide greater access to clean water supply and sanitation to rural communities in the country.

Dr Sikua made the statement in parliament in response to a concern raised by Opposition Leader Manasseh Sogavare on government’s action on water and sanitation.

He said the Coalition for National Unity and Rural Advancement (CNURA) Government is still committed to its policy priority area and that is people have proper water supply and sanitation.

“The Government would like to make sure that as many villages in Solomon Islands have access to cleaning drinking water and proper sanitation”.

“The Government is working around the clock to make sure the project is implemented,” Dr Sikua explained.

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From virginmoneyus:

Thanks - as essential to the holidays as the passing of the cranberry sauce. So go ahead. Give thanks. Upload a picture and a caption and say what you’re thankful for. Your favorite Sunday afternoon loungewear? That friend who helped you through it all? Sure. Then we’ll donate $1 to Give a Drop, a life saving effort by Virgin Unite and Project Clean Water. Pass the thanks, please.

Give thanks and give clean water. Then give thanks that you have clean water. You provide the pic and the gratitude. Virgin provides the donation. Not a bad deal.

Be sure to vote for your favorite way to eat cranberry sauce while you’re there. And check out the slide show.

The pics take a couple days to be approved. So upload today and be ready for Thanksgiving.

Post pics here.

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You pedal, it pumps water from the storage tank in the back through a filter to the container in the front.  It keeps the purified water in a closed container, maintaining its integrity and making it easy to use.  The added benefit is it makes transporting water much quicker and easier since many third world residents must transport water up to three miles or more just to get it from source to home.

I’m not quite sure about this one. I have questions about the practicality of getting these in the hands of the people who could use them most.

But it is yet another example of the ingenuity available to work on the challenge of clean water. We don’t lack know how. There are plenty of answers and possibilities. The problem remains the will of the people in control of these countries.

Find more info here on the Aquaduct blog

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