April, 2010 Archive

Filters were distributed in the Kidiju and Chiga areas of Kisumu by the locale women’s group, Babyface.  They are an organized group of widows who care for each other, and their community’s needs.  

Additional filters were given to Babyface for distribution as the need arises in their villages.  These filters will help fight preventible waterborne diseases – Typhoid, Cholera, Dysentery and Diarrhea.  Children, the weakest members of villages, are the most vulnerable.  Babyface, with the help of Maisha Orphanage, will distribute where the need is greatest.  

As more filters arrive in Kisumu, one family from the United States understands the reality of the need after seeing photos from the field.  ”Wow, I’m tearing….that was far more powerful than I ever expected. Thank you…from all of us, everywhere. What a way to bring a nowhere gift, home to the heart. We DID make a difference. I get it…………”  Thank you to the Budnieski Family – Bob, Dani, Dylan and Chase for helping bring a basic need to children in Kenya – Maji ni Maisha, Water is Life.

Our most recent Hygiene and Sanitation Clinic – at Omungi School in Kisumu – was lead by a team of 3 Nationals (locals).  Kennedy put it best, ”  We are trainers of trainers, we need to go out and teach others.  Teachers aren’t teachers, until they teach.”  Very inspiring to those in the class.  20 leaders – men and women – from the community attended the two day seminar, and while waiting for the trainers to arrive – a mean game of Hangman ensued!

When we bring in a new project to a community, such as Hygiene awareness – we can assimilate our program into the community, showing first how WE make the changes.  We become role models and others will be interested to learn what we are doing.  Specifically they will be interested in  learning how we are keeping our families healthy.  To learn how you can partner with a community to provide WATERisLIFE.com life-saving water filters, a sustainable clean water source, and hygiene and sanitation training email kristine@waterislife.com.  You will be amazed at how your simple gift of partnership can transform the lives of a community.

WATERisLIFE.com is working in the Kisumu area of Kenya.  These are the Luo people and they speak the Dholuo language – as well as Swahili and English.  WATERisLIFE.com has distributed water filters, hosted Hygiene and Sanitation Clinics and drilled wells at Maisha Orphanage, Ayaru and Omungi Primary Schools, as well as a location in the Kidiju community in partnership with a local women’s organization – Babyface.  WIL has also completed a pump repair at Kidiju Primary which has approximately 500 children.  The water was ’spoiled’ so the children were unable to access water.  Clean, fresh water now flows.  

WATERisLIFE.com is now researching additional water projects in the Kisumu area – specifically in the Kano Plains area – in the sub locations of Mayena and Chiga. Email kristine@waterislife.com if you are interested in partnering with a village or sponsoring a project in this area.

Next week, the world will be celebrating Earth Day, but while many will be making efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle, Nickelodeon is putting the spotlight on another important issue, the global water crisis. On April 18, Nick News with Linda Ellerbee will be examining the topic in Your Thirsty World, a half-hour program in which kids in Honduras, Bangladesh, California and New Jersey talk about their water problems and what is being done to solve them. 

Many of us are used to being able to just turn on the faucet when we need a drink, however, one in five people do not have access to clean, safe drinking water. Water-related illness can cause sickness and death, and is responsible for killing almost four million people every year.

And while kids in Honduras and Bangladesh spend hours physically hauling or standing in line for water, this isn’t just a problem for developing countries — it’s happening in our own back yard, too. The water crisis is caused by politics, poverty and pollution, which are things that affect many regions, even in America. For instance, families in Central Valley, California cannot drink their tap water because fertilizer and pesticides have contaminated it. 

“Safe, clean water is not only a basic human necessity,” Linda says. “It’s a basic human right. Or ought to be. That’s what kids believe, and I agree.” Watch the eye-opening report on the global water crisis on Your Thirsty World, which premieres on Sunday, April 18, at 8:30 p.m. ET.