WaterLog

Yesterday the Seattle Times ran a front page story on the Gates Foundation’s work to develop a malaria vaccine.  People in poor nations have many needs, and it’s difficult to question the work of an organization that says it is committed to ending a disease that kills children. 

However, towards the end of the article, William Muraskin, a health historian at City University of New York at City University of New York offers a criticism of the Gates Foundation’s approach. ”The Gates Foundation wants a big, showy breakthrough that saves lives.  . . Who wouldn’t want that?” But, he asks, “where’s the benefit in saving a child from malaria, only to have her die from drinking dirty water?”  Other critics say that they’d rather see the funding go into strengthening public health systems and improving water and sanitation services for the poor.

Read the full article here.

This is an interesting column talking about how not to do water projects.  The project failure mentioned in the piece was because a handpump common to Malawi was poorly installed in a community in Mozambique, and spare parts for the handpump were not available locally.  Although we have known for years that the model of foreigners coming into a community to do a quick water project is not likely to be sustainable, this kind of well-meaning philanthrophy still exists and the author of this article thinks it seems to be increasing.  People want to help, and hands-on help might be more meaningful for the donor, but it is likely not the best solution for the people they are trying to help. 

At Water 1st, our goal is to always try and redirect that enthusiasm and geniune concern for people without water into our fundraising and outreach activities.  Our partner organizations need money to do their work - we believe that is the best help we can provide for them.  For people who have the time and want to travel, we do offer trips to meet our beneficiaries and see the work they are doing in person and connect with them on a meaningful, personal level.

We also carefully select the local partner organizations we work with, who have a track record of sustainable projects and who are commited to a specific geographic area so that they are in a position to follow up and constantly improve their work.

Read the On Philanthrophy article here.

On Sunday, I went online to read the New York Times headlines while I had my morning coffee, and two articles caught my attention.  The first, “South Asia Grapples With Results of Flooding,” reports the incredibly tragic news about the annual floods in South Asia.  Over the weekend, we received emails from both our Bangladesh and India partners, saying that our project areas are affected by the floods.  You simply can’t drill new wells during a flood.  The United Nations is warning of a massive health crisis in southern Asia, where 30 million people have been inundated by the monsoonal rains and flash flooding.  Stagnant flood waters create a breeding ground for diarrheal diseases, skin infections and other public health threats such as malaria and dengue fever.  Children make up 40% of South Asia’s population, and they are particularly vulnerable to these kinds of potentially epidemic illnesses.

The second headline was in stark contrast to the first:  “In Silicon Valley, Millionaires Who Don’t Feel Rich.”  The article reminded me of a lunch conversation I had recently with a parent who had observed a high school class exercise where students were given various amounts of money to spend, based on the Facing the Future curriculum “Shop Till you Drop?”.  Some students were allocated less than what they needed to meet their basic needs for water, food, and shelter.  Others were given enough for basic needs and could start spending on their “wants.”  The interesting observation made by my lunch companion was that the kids who had enough money to spend on their “wants” were happy as they intially reported to the class on what they were able to afford.  However, once the students with the most money reported on their purchases, the students with less became disssatisfied and wanted more. 

I know we’ve all had that experience.  It’s no different for the world’s poor.  I think they are looking at the lifestyles that we lead, and they want what we have.  Can you imagine what would happen if all 6 billion people on Earth consumed resources at the same rate as the average U.S. citizen?  I don’t know if the calculations have been done, but my guess is that there’s no way we can sustain that level of consumption.  Whenever I have this conversation with myself, I keep coming to the same conclusion:  If we really want to lift people out of poverty, it probably means that those of us who don’t feel rich but really are probably need to move in a different direction and learn to live on less.

There have been a lot of stories about bottled water in the past month. Bottled water companies are more frequently being criticized for everything from bottling municipal water to contributing to global warming through the production, shipment and disposal of beverage containers. So, this is the latest article I’ve read on the topic. It caught my eye because it also talks about the amount of money we spend on bottled water ($15 billion annually) when so many poor people in the world have no source of clean water.

Message in a Bottle

I’m not posting this to add to the conversations about the bottled water industry, although I do agree that plastic bottles are wasteful and I’m happy filling my sports bottle daily with tap water that’s practically free. There are a million comparisons we can make about our personal indulgences – how much we spend on coffee (especially here in Seattle), how much we spend dining out, how much we spend on clothes. That doesn’t even get into military spending and other comparisons of government spending that I think about daily.

I actually find these comparisons hopeful because it’s evidence to me that we can solve this problem of water and toilets for the world’s poor. There is enough money in the world to cover the costs that cannot be borne by the people who are today walking to water holes. It’s simply up to us as individuals to make a change.

A young women collects dirty water at her traditional water source. This photo was taken during a recent Ethiopia Water Tour, where Water 1st supporters journeyed to sites where Water 1st is implementing water projects. The community of Ilamu Muja will soon have safe drinking water, thanks to your generous donations.

Greetings WaterLoggers –

We’ve just reorganized and refreshed the ‘News’ and ‘Get Involved’ sections of the Water1st.org website. The goal is to help you all find things more efficiently, and to inspire you to spend more time learning about how you can get involved with Water 1st.

The ‘Get Involved’ section received the most attention. We’ve divided the pages into four categories: Youth, Business, Religious/Civic Groups, and Individuals. Diving deeper into any one of those sections will show you many ways to get involved, as well as plenty of examples of other groups and individuals who are already engaged in supporting Water 1st.

Both ‘News’ and ‘Get Involved’ received a new streamlined look for their cover pages.

We hope you enjoy the new design and structure. Please leave your comments - pro or con - and suggestions.

Thanks,
Chris

NPR ran a five-part series this week on the Ganges.  The last piece in the series was entitled, “Where the Ganga Meets the Sea” and is close to the area where Water 1st is supporting projects.  Our projects are a little further south.

Click here to listen to the story on NPR’s website.

In a poll carried out by the British Medical Journal in January 2007, sanitation was voted the most important medical milestone since 1840, ranking higher than antibiotics and vaccines.  In poor countries, over 2.5 billion people do not have access to a basic toilet.  Lack of access to safe water and latrines causes 5 million deaths each year.  

Water and sanitation targets are included in the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.  Governments have pledged to halve the proportion of people in need of clean water and basic sanitation by 2015.  However, at current funding levels, under-funding for sanitation means the sanitation MDG is 90 years off target and will not be met until 2105.  The cost of missing this goal: 133 million lives.

Save the Date for the 2nd Annual Water 1st - Beer 2nd event on Saturday, April 7, 2007, at Hale’s Paladium, Seattle. Serving water first, and beer (or root beer) second! Come on out for this fun(d)raiser. Enjoy live music, food, dancing, and a Water 1st presentation.  Click here for more information.

Invite your friends and let us know your favorite things about last year’s Water 1st Beer 2nd event.

This piece ran in November.  I think it is very well written and researched by the author, Clay Holtzman.  There is one story about Water 1st and the global water crisis, and then a side-bar story about my background.  My son, Calvin, thinks he is famous now that he has seen his name printed in a newspaper.  Just wait until he sees it on this blog!

Water 1st makes grants to groups that help themselves

Holding onto hope

Let me know what you think of the stories!

Marla