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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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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My Uncle Dewey gave us a couch when we were first married. He’s not really my uncle. He’s one of those adults I saw at family gatherings when I was a kid. He was older than me so I called him Uncle. I didn’t really know him well.

That’s why it came something of a surprise when he offered us the couch. We needed one. We were happy to get it. We just hadn’t thought we’d have one for a while. The budget isn’t very large for two college kids living on student loans and 20 hour a week minimum wage jobs.

Dewey owned an upholstery shop in those days.  He invited us for dinner when we picked up the couch. I was reacquainted with this wonderful man and his family that I am somehow related to.

We left with a nine foot long orange couch in the back of a borrowed pick-up. Yes, it was really that big and it was really orange. Orange pattern actually. Think ’70s garish; it was worse than that. The thing filled one side of our basement apartment living room.

We moved two more times before I finished school. The orange couch made every move. We started to acquire other stuff. Hand me downs and gifts and help from all over. We couldn’t afford much. It just seemed natural that people gave us stuff.

I eventually graduated from college with a teaching degree and got a job as the English Department at a small high school in northwest New Mexico. The couch came with us of course. Most all the other stuff came too. We also took the son that was born to us in Utah and all his stuff.

With this small growing family and in the second year of my first real job, we started to think that maybe we could buy a couch. Not a hand me down. But one that hadn’t been owned by anyone else, that we paid for ourselves.

We made arrangements to buy our first major piece of furniture at Sears in Albuqueque. We borrowed a pick-up and made the 3 hour drive. I planned to sell the orange couch at a used furniture store. So it came along for the ride.

The guy at the used furniture store must have thought I was crazy. It seemed like a good deal to me. But apparently there was no market for large used orange couches in New Mexico in the mid 1980s. He had no interest in it whatsoever. He wouldn’t even take it for free.

So I was stuck with this couch and needed the space for the new one. The used furniture guy thought maybe a Vietnamese family that had been in earlier would want it. He had the address because he had delivered some small things earlier that day.

Vietnamese refuges. Yeah, they’d buy it. I’m sorry to say that I was still thinking I was going to get some cash. As I approached the address, I just couldn’t figure out the logistics. I finally reached the conclusion that I should give them the couch and be grateful.

I knocked on the door of this apartment somewhere in Albuquerque. I convinced the people who answered to come out to the street. There was lots of talking, not much English. They saw the couch and talked some more. I finally got in the back of the truck and started pushing the couch out. A couple of the men grabbed the end and helped pull it out.

I headed for the cab of the truck. They were smiling but puzzled. They were talking and I hope they were saying thank you and not swearing at me for leaving my refuse with them.

When I got back to my wife, I told her what happened and called it a good thing. She agreed and we both knew that we had plenty. We had been given much. We too must give.

Image via Wikipedia

A GE press release dated November 19, 2008 included this:

GE Water & Process Technologies today announced it has donated and transferred operational ownership for two advanced water treatment systems to Dongguang County, which will provide clean drinking water for more than 40,000 residents in Dongguang City. Dedicated as a gift to the people of China, the systems are designed to help protect human health by removing fluoride and other containments for clean, sustainable, potable water.

GE next will donate a mobile water treatment plant that will purify water for the neighboring villages of Dongguang and supply clean drinking water to an additional 20,000 residents. This plant will be the first application of an advanced mobile water treatment system used in China to bring clean water to areas that are not within reach of the nation’s municipal water infrastructure.

GE’s water treatment solutions can treat virtually any water source and could potentially play a key role in helping China meet its goal of providing safe, reliable water supplies by 2015 to more than 300 million people living in rural areas.

I applaud the people at GE for this great humanitarian work. 60,000 people have clean water now who did not before. And in 8 more years, 300 million more people will have clean water. I’m seeing good here.

I’m not naive enough to think GE is not making money on this some how. Stockholders aren’t investing in a charitable cause. They want to see profit. That’s fine with me.

One of my beliefs is that we are capable of providing clean water for everyone on the planet. The government of China seems committed to making that a reality. This goes to my point that political will, not technology, is lacking when people don’t have clean water.

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Brita Print Ad - copy reads "last year 16 million gallons of oil were consumed to make plastic water bottles."

Brita clearly has a dog in this fight. They want to sell water filters. Filterforgood.com is their effort to wean Americans off bottled water.

They make some good points. But I’m not sure American municipal water supplies even need that much filtering. We waste a lot of money getting the last few impurities out when others in the world can’t get any out.

At least Brita cuts out the plastic bottles and shipping from Fiji.

From filterforgood’s fact page. HT Oceans, Waves, Beaches .

In 2006, the average American used 167 disposable water bottles, but only recycled 38.

In the United States, 24 percent of bottled water sold is either Pepsi’s Aquafina (13 percent of the market) or Coke’s Dasani (11 percent of the market). Both brands are bottled, purified municipal water.

In the U.S., public water is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which requires multiple daily tests for bacteria and makes results available to the public. The Food and Drug Administration, which regulates bottled water, only requires weekly testing and does not share its findings with the EPA or the public.

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