Friendly Water for the World April newsletter

Subject: Friendly Water for the World April newsletter

Welcome to the April issue of News and Notes. Richard Branson says 'You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing. And by falling over'. For the people we support, rules change all the time. Climate, conflict, disease, and politics all make their lives more unpredictable. To better support them, we have to find new ways of doing and learning. So, a new person is going to help us, the Coach. Read all about this new role below.

In the rest of this month's issue we:

Read a message from our Executive Director
Discover life in Barabanki Prison
Start our ~~spring~~ year-round permagarden

And don't miss out on our One Last Thing. It's your chance to join the conversation.

A MESSAGE FROM CURT

Greeting friends,

I wanted to first say that we’re thankful that you’re here: here to help us build hope through clean water. And soap! Don't forget soap for handwashing; here to reassure our communities and partners that we stand with them. That as this health crisis sweeps through their villages and towns, our commitment doesn't waver; and here to help rally people

together, prepare for new projects, advance existing ones, and above all, stay connected with our friends around the world. It's a time to be hopeful, but also a time to show up, to be here, as only you can.

During this time it’s been reassuring to have received so many thoughts and messages of hope. Everyone here at Friendly Water for the World wishes you well. Please continue to practice healthful behaviors. Our office is closed, but the staff continues to work a normal schedule, just from home. Due to the uncertainty of a schedule for the resumption of public contact we are canceling this year’s week-long training, traditionally held in August. But we are staying connected with our weekly Zoom Chat and are preparing new events for the future.

At Friendly Water for the World we know that the health of the community depends on not just our past actions, but how we are going to walk forward together. Together, we will continue to focus on our seven core technologies BioSand Filters, Micro-Flush Toilets, Water Catchment Tanks, Rocket Stoves, Permagardens, Liquid Soap, and Compressed Soil Bricks. These simple technologies help build self-reliance and new futures. Together they make a stronger community better prepared to tackle health issues be it Cholera or Covid.

With you, working together.

Curt Andino

Executive Director

INTRODUCING THE COACH

During the past 18 months, we have been assessing the effectiveness of our projects. 'We' is everyone: our board, staff, community and implementation partners, funders, supporters and others. We seek input everywhere. One thing we have learned from this input and years of completing projects around the world is that building trusted long-term relationships builds success. Where we invest in communities, they invest in themselves.

So, we have decided to add an important member to our program, the Coach. The Coach will be a cornerstone of our Post-Training programming. They will be someone from the local community who has participated in the training, is conversant in the technologies taught, and has the right skills and abilities to steward the project(s). The Coach will be a facilitator who collects data and communicates both how the program is moving forward and how we can make things better. In short, they will help us answer questions and acquire a better understanding of the best questions to ask.

You can think of the Coach as being accountable to:

MEASURE

Measure outputs and outcomes. How many new filters, bricks and other technologies are built? And what economical and health impacts are those outputs having on the people and community?

ASSESS

Assess the amount of materials on hand, the progress and effectiveness of the various construction processes, and how well each individual product is working after it is locally installed.

SHARE

Share with Friendly Water for the World measurement and assessment information, community concerns or opportunities for improvement. Share our feedback. Share best practices amongst the community.

ENCOURAGE

Encourage a rewarding and long-term partnership that benefits all parties, that positions all people as equals with shared goals, and that builds the tools to overcome barriers to adoption and utilization.

The Coach will be a paid sub-contractor and selected by a program manager in consultation with the local community and our partners. They will be equipped with the technology, knowledge, and tools to help empower their community.

We already have our first Coach in place, Warren Mwenda. He participated in our first Zambia project in Monze and is a member of the Zambia Women and Girls Foundation. We will be sharing more about Warren in a future newsletter. Please join us in wishing him great success!

#GivingTuesdayNow is a global day of giving and unity that will take place on May 5, 2020 as an emergency response to the unprecedented need caused by COVID-19. It’s an opportunity for our friends around the world to stand together in unity--to use their individual power of generosity to remain connected and heal.

Even in times of economic crisis, we each have a deep reserve of generosity, which we can deploy in myriad ways to make a difference--your time, your kindness, your skills, your voice are all things you can give in addition to charitable donations.

On May 5th, please think of Friendly Water for the World, and all the people and communities for which you inspire hope.

BARABANKI, INDIA

As the novel coronavirus has swept through much of the developed world, in India the pandemic appears to be just beginning. There is limited testing but cases are already piling up. For the first time in 167 years their train network, Asia’s oldest, has been suspended. That network could wrap around the globe 1.5 times. Every day it carried 20 million people to their jobs and families. Now 20,000 carriages from those trains are being converted into isolation wards for patients.

No more trains mean no more work. The train network itself was India’s largest employer. Where there is no work, there is no money. And where there is no money, vulnerable people often suffer the most. For example, people in enclosed, poorly funded facilities like prisons are particularly at risk of discrimination and infection.

Just before the pandemic began, the Superintendent of Barabanki District Prison approached Binymain Christy, our implementation partner based in Lucknow, India, asking for BioSand Water Filters to make clean water for the prisoners.

In the prison there are more than 80 women prisoners and 18 children under the age of eight. Even though the prison has piped water, the water is drawn from polluted underground sources. The prisoners routinely become ill from waterborne illnesses. So far this year, two children under the age of five have died due to diarrhea and vomiting. Their deaths could have been prevented with clean water. What is going to happen if the novel coronavirus gets inside this prison?

Without a vaccine, according to health officials, the primary ways to prevent the spread of this pandemic are physical distancing and hand washing. Even though it’s not usually something we spend a lot of time thinking about, you need soap and clean water to effectively wash your hands.

In the United States 99% of the population has access to clean water. But in India 150 million people don't. That's almost 20% of the global population without clean water.

And that’s why the Prison Superintendent contacted us. He had heard about BioSand Water Filters, how easy and simple they are to use, how little they cost to build, and how many lives they can save by making dirty water clean.

Binyamin visited the prison and demonstrated the Filters. He also shared important information about sanitation and hygiene.

The Superintendent was impressed and asked for more help. Binyamin was able to donate two BioSand Water Filters that his team had built during our Lucknow training session in October. But the prison has 2500 people in need. Ideally, we'd provide one filter for every ten people. And with more funding we'll be able to include soap and hygiene training.

As the pandemic expands our work goes on. Communities at risk, especially those like the women and children in Barabanki prison, require even more of our attention. And we need to be ready to act when travel bans are lifted. It’s times of crisis that often offer the best opportunities to make life better. We are here for all those around the world without clean water.

PERMAGARDENS

On Friday, Peter Jensen of Terra Firma International will be presenting a new kind of garden designed to grow food all year long in the harshest of environments. (You can find the invitation to join him at the end of this email). As a teaser, here is a little introduction to permagardens.

Everyone seems to be out preparing and planting their own gardens during the Covid-19 pandemic. A wave of green thumbs has swept neighborhoods. Many people have discovered that being able to grow your own food has many benefits, both social and nutritional. In the communities we support, gardening isn't really a hobby though; it's a necessity. And permagardens provide a thoughtful way to maximize a small plot of land for a year-round high-quality food supply.

Several communities have participated in preparing permagardens, most recently in and near Minova, Congo. This particular garden was an extension of our training as members of our implementation partner, CPGRBC, have independently started to train other communities.

The key idea behind a permagarden is to maximize the food and nutrition potential from a small piece of land (though the concepts can be used in larger gardens and farming). The gardens are designed to improve soil fertility and water utilization. According to USAID, the key concepts in growing a local garden that could produce all year long are:

Utilize local resources
Create an efficient garden design
Improve soil health
Increase water management
Plant for maximum benefit
Conduct proactive crop health and protection

Permagardens have the added benefit of only needing local resources.

This approach creates more nutritious food and makes for a more resilient garden that can survive dry seasons and greater weather extremes. Perhaps most importantly, it empowers a family to feed themselves. They gain confidence and the knowledge that they have all the resources they need for food security and potential income.

Join us Friday when Peter Jensen reveals his insights from years of planting and promoting permagardens.

MONTHLY BOARD MEETING

The Friendly Water for the World board meeting is open to the public. We want everyone to have the opportunity to join, especially now when most of us are physically distancing at home. So, this month we are hosting the Board Meeting online. To connect, click the button below.

The button will take you to our Zoom web call and may prompt you to download a small piece of software to join the call. Install the software if asked to do so, and then you can join the meeting. If you are prompted for the Meeting ID, enter 551-730-873.

Sign up to join our board meeting >>>

If you are located in the United States and would like to join an audio-only version of the call from your telephone, dial the number below that is closest to your location and enter the Meeting ID: 551-730-873.

San Jose +1 669 900 9128
New York +1 646 558 8656

MAKE A LASTING IMPACT

Create a gift of clean water that travels across the world!

As we expand our program to impact more people and communities, you may be interested in supporting this work through planned gift options that leave a legacy. These options allow you to take care of your own family first, but also save for the future, benefit from tax deductions and create a

lasting gift.

Employer matching
Donor advised fund
IRA Qualified Charitable distribution
Stock contribution
Estate gift

Friendly Water for the World is part of matching gift programs at Microsoft, Kaiser Permanente, Google, Boeing and others. If you have an employer that has a matching gift program, please help us become part of their system.

We hope you'll contact us so we can share how easy it is to create these gifts and the big difference they make.

ONE LAST THING

Are you craving some conversation? Looking for something new to do? Are you feeling lonely? Well, you're not alone. And to keep us all connected, we have started a weekly Chat where people from around the world congregate and chat and learn about what's happening around the world.

Last week we sat around an online campfire with friends from four different countries. It was great to see so many faces and hear how everyone is doing. We will get through this!

This Friday at noon (Pacific Standard Time) new guest speaker Peter Jensen shares his knowledge of permagardens. Permagardens combine components of permaculture, bio-intensity, and design to create sustainable agriculture that maximizes production. The method shows how farmers around the world with only a small amount of land can produce food throughout the year using proper gardening and resource management.

Peter is the Lead Agroecology Advisor and Permagarden Trainer for his company, Terra Firma International and has lived in Africa for 20 years. He developed a method that he'll share with us that guides even the most marginalized individual to create a resilient, nutrition-focused garden and farming system.

Register to join us >>>

JOIN THE CHAT

And if you'd like to watch the last Chat (or two), we have uploaded the video onto Youtube. You can see it on our new channel here: https://bit.ly/ChatonYoutube

Until our next Chat, our next newsletter, or whenever we are fortunate enough to see each other again. Please be safe and kind to others.

-Will, and the rest of our small but global team

FRIENDLY WATER FOR THE WORLD

https://friendlywater.org

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Subject: Friendly Water for the World April newsletter