Friendly Water for the World June newsletter

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Subject: Friendly Water for the World June newsletter

Welcome to the June issue of News and Notes. This month I'd like to share some of our recent efforts to build capacity. Capacity building is one of those very exciting but not too terribly informative terms that basically means - how we are becoming more effective. And by building more capacity, how can we help our communities become more resilient?

CAPACITY BUILDING

First and foremost, we are now deliberately approaching our work through the lens of appreciative inquiry. We use this approach in all facets of our projects with partners and communities. It's a transformative way of thinking in international development. We thought, how better to create new habits and language than by using it inside our organization first. At its core, appreciative inquiry involves using conversation and interaction to imagine something that is compelling, something that all participants would intrinsically desire without external incentives. In other words, let's create a future we all want to see.

As we have been evaluating our own future in light of the coronavirus pandemic and immense social upheaval, we have identified lots of ways our organization can create rich experiences for all of our constituents. So, over the next few months you'll start to notice changes to our website. We want to make it simpler to find information and easier to participate in our work. The first step in this process was completed last week: we migrated the website to a new hosting service. Friendlywater.org is now more stable and delivers content to you faster than before. You'll start seeing design changes soon.

We are rethinking how we can share information and engage you in our projects. One of the ways we've already been doing that is through our Zoom Chats that you can find on both our new Youtube channel and on our website Events page. So many of you have told us how much you have enjoyed being able to connect with generous and thankful people from around the world. As they become a regular monthly conversation, we would love to hear what topics you would be interested in talking about.

On the technology front we are researching purpose-built rocket stoves that can be used in different countries and cooking environments. These could be single or double pot cookers that could also be used to make flatbreads. Cooking nshima in Zambia is quite different than making naan in India, and our stoves should meet the needs of the local food environments and customs. What is constant is that smoke from cooking fires kills more people worldwide than AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined. We can help change that.

And while we're talking about changing lives, over 230 million people in India are exposed to high levels of arsenic in their groundwater sources; water that is slowly poisoning them. Arsenic poisoning is associated with numerous cancers, skin diseases, and other illnesses. We know from previous experiments that adding iron through rusty nails to a BioSand Water Filter removes arsenic from the water. If there was a way to scale that process, countless lives could be saved. We were recently introduced to Dr Katya Cherukumilli and her Global Water Labs organization in Seattle. Her team is working on removing contaminants from water and is interested in collaborating with us on her fluoride removal testing and adapting it to arsenic. We will be providing her several BioSand Water Filters for experimentation and have talked about future field tests.

We recently confirmed our continued enrollment in the Washington State Combined Fund Drive. Now more than ever we are thankful for those of you who help sustain the organization through monthly giving. If you are a state employee, you can select us as your charity here:

Combined Fund Drive

And speaking of support, this past month we were very happy to receive our SBA Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) funds. The funds will cover eight weeks of payroll expenses. We have already made substantial adjustments to our budget this year and these funds help provide stability and move operations forward. We appreciate all of you who continue to give to our efforts during these uncertain times.

We continue to monitor the impact of coronavirus in countries where we work. In India, there are 38 million migrant workers stranded all around the country, with no food and often no

shelter, and no way to get back to their native villages. Most of our contacts in India are working on providing relief, mostly food. There are many deaths from starvation, and people trying to walk home hundreds of miles in the blazing heat. Meanwhile, there is a new Ebola outbreak in Congo, just as they've started to recover from massive flooding.

Finally, we continue to receive promising feedback from our most recent project in Zambia. Just a couple of weeks ago we had our first Coach, Warren Mwenda of the Zambia Women and Girls Foundation, on one of our Zoom Chats. We were excited to hear about all the bricks they've been making for their new school and teacher quarters in Mungolo. We are currently focusing our time and energy on creating long-term community investment projects in three regions: Southern Zambia; North Tanzania/ SW Kenya; and Central India. All three areas suffer greatly from climate change, people who are vulnerable and marginalized, and multi-generational poverty. We are confident that by utilizing our existing strong local partnerships and a multi-year time horizon, together we can create a healthier and more prosperous future.

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, on July 19th at 2:00 pm we will be hosting our next Board Meeting online again with a Zoom call. To join us, on that date 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.

Click here to join the board meeting >>>

JOIN

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

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. So far we have hosted more than 10 of these Chats with topics ranging from sustainable brick making to mitigating climate change through international finance. We share and learn about what's happening around the world and in our local communities. During most Chats, we have participants from at least eight or nine countries!

You can watch any of our videos on our Youtube channel here:

https://bit.ly/ChatonYoutube

And you can view or register for any of our upcoming events 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

https://friendlywater.org

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Subject: Friendly Water for the World June newsletter