Let me tell you about my business class project.
While I love my fire and smithing hobby business, like most of us, the day job ... well let's just say I needed a spark to keep me on track. I enrolled in a night class at a local college. The class is pretty interesting ~ it covers topics like conflict & negotiation. It's stuff people encounter everyday just getting along, often at work, so it has been the "juice," the spark I was hoping to get.
And, there is this one last big project left in the semester ~ A challenge to give back to the community. Business classes...Giving Back...!!!!? yup.
The professor has tasked the class with raising awareness and funds for a non-profit effort that provides clean fresh water to developing countries.
Can you help? I admit I was pretty skeptical, so I worked pretty hard to find the "ewww, gotcha" in the assignment & in the charity group.
charity: water helps drill wells, build water systems & latrines, and teach proper hygiene in developing countries like Honduras, India, Ethiopia, and Rwanda. There are some beautiful photos and scary sad statistics on their main website so I won't try to repeat them all for you here.
But I will tell you I was impressed that the community retains ownership of the new facilities.
And the ownership is distributed among a committee including women and people from multiple tribes if that is an issue. Many of you know of my family affiliation with a church, but I really appreciate that the local organizations on the ground do not require religious affiliation for the people to have access to the fresh well water. Church is good; forcing people isn't.
Working in healthcare makes me much more aware of how easy it is to stop the spread of serious disease and infection. Wash your hands! So, I also like that people are taught proper washing hygiene; and basic sanitation about good fresh water & bad waste separation is addressed (Is this statement too delicate?)
Please give generously! every little bit helps, every bit counts and it all can be accounted for in each specific project!
The charity: water founder realized that using donations for overhead costs, often makes people feel that their contribution is less effective; That using donations to fund administration somehow lessens the 'goodness' of the donation. charity: water administration is funded by angel philanthropists, donations specified to go to the foundation, and by selected merchandise.
Technology let's you know where your donation goes! Using GoogleEarth, GPS and charity: water photographers ~ they document the wells, digging, the water systems, and villages where your dollars are used. You can see the efforts for your self from satellite & in photos.
The team effort has decided to try to sweeten the pot a little:
Give at least $20 to charity: water during our challenge & be entered in our drawing to win a prize. Prizes are listed here and below
To enter the donation must be received before noon on August 3rd 2009, and must be submitted from the team challenge page above or at charitywater.org/pages/rubystar
Thank you for your time reading this & consideration in any small way.
Please feel free to im/dm/convo/email me if you have questions!
What can you win?
Win a portable GPS!
charity: water is unique in tracking the location of the freshwater wells and water systems it supports in Google Earth with exact GPS coordinates! Go globetrotting & find your contribution, take a trip to find some new supplies or re-route around the traffic on the way to grandma's.
How could we omit a super cool water bottle? ~ In your daily trek in the wilds, you, yourself need to keep hydrated and it's more environmental than the single serving bottles!
Refreshing glycerin soaps to keep clean and sparkly ~ Clean water and education is also essential for sanitation. Simply washing ones hands hugely reduces disease and illness (everywhere, not just in 3rd world countries!) charity: water also funds efforts to build sanitary toilet facilities and teaches basic hygiene.
