Thank you so much for believing in Blue Planet Network. Your donation directly funds the water projects of our NGO members. Blue Planet Network connects donors and local communities to peer reviewed and vetted NGO member water projects. Our NGO members manage, track, monitor, and share the progress of their water projects on our online platform and those results are shared with you- the movers and shakers of the activist community! This level of collaboration and result sharing is our most effective means of providing scalable and sustainable safe drinking water and sanitation to the 780 million people around the world that are still in need.

Here we would like to take a moment of your time and present two NGO members whose programs and visibility are supported by Blue Planet Network.

Spotlight on:

Global Women's Water Initiative & Tanzania Mission to the Poor and Disabled

Blue Planet Network members

Global Women's Water Initiative, fondly known as GWWI, is an astounding example of a Blue Planet Network member that is changing the world - one woman at a time. Since 2008, GWWI has supported women leaders in implementing water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) solutions worldwide and has coordinated three impressive Women and Water Trainings that brought together 100 women from 11 countries in Africa and the United States. Participants left these programs equipped with all the skills necessary to successfully launch their own water service project from start to finish.

The photographs below, taken just 2 months ago, capture the community of Moyo, Uganda, building a rainwater-harvesting tank from the ground up. Graduates of GWWI's year-long training program lead the way and trained the villagers to do everything; from site planning and design, to mixing mortar and making bricks, to proudly laboring over the finishing details. Also included is routine need assessments, capacity training for residents and strategic networking that ensures environmental and financial sustainability. Here we see examples of how team work and determination form the bedrock of success. Teamwork in Moyo is not a tool, it's a way of life. 

Tanzania Mission to the Poor and Disabled, otherwise known as PADI, is one of Blue Planet Network's founding members. PADI began its work in 1999 operating in the Ruvuma Region of Tanzania, before expanding to the 21 regions that make up the country. The organization is undertaking essential development activities such as safe water programs, malaria control, entrepreneurship skills training, agricultural and small business loans, and bringing awareness to the vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, orphaned, disabled, and poor. Like GWWI, sustainability plans and local know-how rank high.

The photos below make us feel as if we are invited to follow the students of St. Gertrude Primary School back to campus after gathering water from the closest pond, two miles away round trip. The water will to be used for baths and the evening meal. St. Gertrude is situated in the village of Ndelenyuma nestled in the Tanzanian highlands, 200km outside the nearest city of Songea. While the school provides what it can for the children, all 450 students take turns making the arduous trip for water two to three times a day. Indisputably, it is a proposed location for PADI to build a well. A sustainable water source will surely bring a look of relief to these children's faces. This clean and convenient water source will afford them the basic privileges they deserve. Soon they will be able to devote more time and energy to learning and the things they love most.

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As always, Blue Planet Network will continue to keep you informed on our members work and the expanding services we offer to enhance water and sanitation programs worldwide. And mark your calendars for March 22nd, the 20th anniversary of World Water Day! If you are moved to participate further, an easy place to start is by simply sharing this page with a few friends, family members or colleagues. Thank you for making this all possible!

Links:

• How the Blue Planet Network platform increases project impact

When you look at the facts, what women stand to gain from access to safe drinking water is priceless - to themselves, their families and the world economy at large. Did you know that worldwide, it is estimated that on a single day women can spend over 200 billion collective hours fetching water? And yes, you guessed it, if they are lugging water, they certainly aren't tending to their families and they aren't in school or running businesses. 

But the fact that isn't as often profiled is that women aren't just the benefactors of clean water and sanitation, they are leaders that enable it rise to community discussion and action.

I'll take a moment here to talk about Community Water Center, a Blue Planet Network member, that is a prime example of the courageous work being done by women for woman.

Community Water Center (CWC) operating in San Joaquin Valley, California is bringing the public's attention to just how much work needs to be done in small towns, like Seville, CA, where the tap water system is laden with pesticides, nitrates from animal waste, and chemical fertilizers due to the heavy agricultural climate. The tap water is undrinkable and families resort to buying expensive bottle water - double the cost of tap water! Imagine needing bottled water to bathe, to wash clothes, to brush teeth? One might be tempted to drink from the tap once in a while to save a quick buck or some time otherwise spent lugging water jugs, however the negative health effects, such as thyroid disease, are just too risky.

Founded and directed by women, Community Water Center works to help families, such as Bertha Diaz's family of three women, featured here.  

Bertha Diaz, 43, discusses her frustrations with Abigail Solis of CWC regarding the water contamination in her home in East Orosi, CA, while her daughters Maribel Sanchez, 24, and Jessica Sanchez, 19, look on. The need for clean water is an emergency to Bertha, who has a spinal cord injury. She works long hours picking oranges in fields nearby, carrying buckets full of the fruit, which hurts her back. In addition, every 3 days she has to buy jugs of Sparkletts water and carry them, which adds to the pain. Her feelings on the need for clean water were clear when she stated (via translator), “When I go to any important meeting and speak to people of power and they ignore me because they feel my situation isn’t an emergency, to me it’s like a person being ignored when they go to the emergency room because the hospital doesn’t think it’s that bad and the person ends up dying because they were ignored.” Photos taken by Sara Cozolino on November 1, 2012

The bottom line here: with your donation you have enabled powerful Blue Planet Network members, just like Community Water Center, to do more than they could ever dream of doing alone.

And the pleasant dream of my neighbors drinking tap water without fear, just like I am privledged to do, is one dream I personally would like to make reality.

Thank you so much.

Links:

• Facebook Album of BPN San Joaquin Valley Water Tour