Subject: Friendly Water for the World July newsletter

Our bricks were just approved to build schools in Zambia
friendly water for the world header

Welcome to the July issue of News and Notes. We have one big story we want to share this month. So let's get right to it.

 

BUILDING SCHOOLS IN ZAMBIA

approved interlocking bricks

Friendly Water for the World Interlocking Soil Stabilized bricks are now government-approved!


The Monze, Zambia Department of Education (DoE) has approved them to build schools. What an endorsement! They are now being used to construct a school to teach 300 students.


If you've been following our Chats or newsletters during the last several months, you would know that Friendly Water for the World has formed two important new partnerships. The first is with the Zambia Women and Girls Foundation (ZaWGF), a Zambian NGO founded in 2007. The second is with the Friends of Monze, an organization based in Wales, United Kingdom, created by Deana Owens that in partnership with ZaWGF raises educational attainment by building and equipping schools in Monze, Zambia. Together, these two partners have already constructed seven schools. These schools provide education, water, shelter, and they form hubs in their communities.


Last year some of our team members visited Monze and initiated our community engagement process. Several months and discussions later, our implementation team arrived and trained a group of community members to make BioSand Water Filters, water catchments, and Interlocking Soil Stabilized bricks. Armed with this knowledge and new brick making machines, ZaWGF has set out to build their next school 67 kilometers from Monze in Mungolo, a town located on a stony, hilly road without signposts.

school house tree

This tree is the shade and walls for the current school in Mungolo.


The school takes children from six different villages, with the next closest state school more than 12 kilometers away. Fortunately, the tree is only a temporary school. They did have a school building but this is all that remains of it.

school ruins

In Monze the local DoE gives ZaWGF a list of schools that need to be constructed or rebuilt in some way. ZaWGF evaluates the list and visits those schools and locations that best fit their mission and abilities. Similar to the Friendly Water for the World approach to community engagement, their first step is to survey and learn about the community.


If there is a good fit, they inform the DoE and the community is contracted to make bricks (that's where our platform of training and technology come in) and provide raw materials and unskilled labor. They have a stake in their school and are an integral part of the construction. And who wouldn't want to build a school for their own children?

school children
child reading

Once a new school is constructed, both the school building and any teacher's houses are handed over to the DoE. The government designs the schools, selects the location in partnership with the community, and makes regular building site inspections.


As part of this process, the local DoE approved the use of the Interlocking Soil Stabilized bricks that ZaWGF can now create thanks to our training and the machines we, and you, provided. As you know from reading previous newsletters, these new bricks have a great many advantages, including preventing deforestation. When ZaWGF has constructed other schools, they've had to use clay-fired bricks with kilns built onsite.

kilns

The kilns pictured here with the little pyramid openings were constructed for a previous school at Malimba. You have to first build a kiln from other bricks before you can make new ones.

wood collecting

The wood is cut from local trees and brought by oxcart to fire the kilns. This process of deforestation is helping the Saharan Desert expand 20 kilometers south every year. And with limited canopy cover in the area, the Buildings Officer is particularly concerned about the loss of trees.


Not only must these kilns be built onsite, but they also create bricks that are not evenly fired, have disparate properties, and inconsistent shape. On the other hand, just about anyone can make and sell our interlocking bricks - no kiln needed!

brick making machine

A crew using one machine can compress from 300 to 400 bricks a day.

finished brick

And each one comes out perfect.

rows of bricks

Of course, they'll be needing more than one brick for this project. The school in Mungolo will include three classrooms, two offices, and two storerooms. Additional buildings will house the two government-provided teachers. Construction has already begun. Once the foundation was laid, they started putting these bricks to good use.

interlocking brick wall

Here are the walls going up. You'll notice a few differences from the old school. First, each brick is basically a photocopy of the next. They are incredibly uniform and easy to put together.

interlocking brick laid

And because they interlock, you don't need to spend nearly as much time and money on the mortar between the bricks.


The bricks are also very strong, at least as strong as clay-fired bricks. This enables them to build a large structure that can support a large roof. That large roof is the perfect surface to catch rain for a Friendly Water for the World water catchment.

water catchment tank

In fact, ensuring there is a water source is the first step in siting a school. And those sources are usually bore-wells that either run dry or use pipes that break. They will have a lot more flexibility with water catchments like this one the community built at another school after our training in February.

finished school

The school in Mungolo isn't finished yet, but it will look something like this when complete. It will be used to teach children from a community of almost 2,000 people, including 23 boy orphans, 21 girls orphans, and five disabled children. We continue to get progress updates from our Coach and look forward to seeing how our technology and training continue to build knowledge and more resilient communities.

 

MONTHLY BOARD MEETING

The Friendly Water for the World board meeting is open to the public. On Sunday, July 19th at 2:00pm, we will be hosting our next meeting online again with a Zoom call. We want everyone to have the opportunity to participate, especially now when most of us are physically distancing at home. To join us, click the button below to register. After registering you'll be sent an email with a link to the 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


If you have any difficulties joining, please contact will@friendlywater.org.

 

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

donate

  • 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

Little known fact: smoke from cooking fires kills more people worldwide each year than AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined. And it is a leading cause of blindness and respiratory disease. How can we help? Well, we have a field-made rocket stove that burns so hot that it attains almost complete combustion - smoke and pollutants are consumed in the fire. And we are learning how to implement it and other designs by studying cooking habits and customs from around the world.

chat about rocket stoves

To learn more about our stove and how improving a cooktop can save forests, reduce burns, and accelerate cooking, come join us for a Chat.


On the last Friday of each month at noon, we host an online Zoom video conferencing Chat. The Chat is open to everyone and we encourage anyone who wants to participate to share their thoughts and ideas. It's a great way to stay connected in these difficult times, especially with people from around the world - we often get Chatters from eight or nine countries.


To join us, register by selecting the button below. We would be delighted if you did.

You can watch any of our previous Chats and register for any of our other upcoming events on our website Events page here:


https://friendlywater.org/Events


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

Friendly Water for the World, 900 Jefferson St. SE, Unit 6070, Olympia, Washington 98507-3240, United States

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