drilled wells

July 10, 2012
tweet this

Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith get wise to water.

14 comments
| comment here
Everyone was anxious, anticipating. The charity: water team, hundreds of hopeful locals, Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith.

We all watched as the first charity: water rig, Yellow Thunder, and the drilling team from our partners at Relief Society of Tigray (REST), prepared to break ground. We watched because we were waiting for the people of Meago Village to get their first clean water. Located in Northern Ethiopia, most of the people here were used to walking three hours for water.

Wait, why were two American superstars with us at a drill in Ethiopia?

Will and Jada

Because in 2010, Jada and Will gave up their birthdays for charity: water. They inspired thousands of others to raise money over the course of a year and promised to bring the top fundraisers on this trip.

Last Friday, Jada and Will joined Matt Hall and Dr. John Nosti from The Smile Generation and Cameron and Suzanne Moll of Authentic Jobs, in Ethiopia. Longtime charity: water supporters and fundraisers, The Smile Generation and Authentic Jobs together raised more than $95,000 as a part of Jada and Will’s Birthday Contest. 100% of the money they donated helped fund the purchase of two drilling rig fleets for the 2011 September Campaign.

Yellow Thunder

Now, in Meago Village, they got to see exactly where their money went. In less than three minutes, Yellow Thunder hit its target, and a geyser of water burst from the ground.

Soon, more than 400 people here will have access to clean water. No more three-hour walks. No more dirty drinking water. Children can go back to school. Women can start earning income for their families. Water will change everything for this community.

And we have our dedicated supporters to thank:

Everyone who gave during the 2011 September Campaign, everyone who fundraised for the Smiths’ Birthday Contest. And of course, extra special gratitude to Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith for their graciousness and generosity, and to the dedication of The Smile Generation and Authentic Jobs. Life here just got a little better because of you.

Join Jada and Will.
Give up your next birthday for clean water by asking for donations instead of gifts. 100% of the money you raise goes to build water projects, and when the work is complete, we’ll prove each project you helped fund with photos and GPS coordinates. You’ll see how your birthday changed lives.

Categories:
June 21, 2012
tweet this

Introducing… Yellow Thunder!

2 comments
| comment here
Thousands of you joined us last September and helped fund our first drilling rig. Then, in March, we were thrilled to share with you that the rig drilled its first well in Ethiopia! At charity: water, we’re big on showing impact, whether it’s through proving completed water projects with photos + GPS or sharing stories from the field on our blog.

Now, you can follow the rig’s day-to-day progress and check its location via Twitter.

drilling rig
follow it on a map
follow it on Twitter

Categories:

March 16, 2012
tweet this

You funded a drilling rig… and now, it’s going to work!

2 comments
| comment here
sept

In September 2011, we asked you to help fund charity: water’s first drilling rig to bring clean water to 40,000 new people every year in rural Ethiopia. More than 1,400 mycharity: water fundraisers and donors answered in a big way, raising more than $1.2 million for a brand new drilling rig fleet.

By now, you probably know we’re big on showing impact. From proving every completed water project with photos and GPS to sharing stories from people you’ve helped get clean water to drink — we want you to see how you’ve changed lives.

And today… we have exciting news! We were expecting to drill the first well with the new rig in May of this year. But Founder Scott Harrison was just in Ethiopia and… the first drilling rig arrived early!

Take a look at how your support is already helping bring life’s most basic need to people in Ethiopia:

We’re so grateful for your support of our work, our partners’ work, and our mission to end the water crisis. Thank you, September Campaign supporters! And stay tuned: as promised, we’re getting the GPS device set up in this rig soon so you can track its progress from village to village.

Learn more about September Campaign 2011 here >

Categories:

December 2, 2011
tweet this

update: September Campaign 2011… we did it!

4 comments
| comment here

Three months ago, we kicked off a campaign unlike any we’d ever done before. Through September Campaign 2011, we hoped to fund our first ever drilling rig so our partners could provide more water projects each year to communities in need. And in late November, with the help of more than 1,400 mycharity: water fundraisers…

rig

Since the standard fundraising time period for a mycharity: water campaign is three months, there are still hundreds of fundraisers with open campaigns. Their efforts will continue to support our September Campaign until the day their campaigns close; 100% of what they’ll raise will go towards a second drilling rig.

rig

The match.

From the start, one of our oldest supporters, Virginia Clay, pledged to match our September Campaign funds with an additional $1.2 million. Since we’ve reached our goal, our impact will be doubled!

Our mycharity: water fundraisers have been communicating to their donors that their hard-earned funds are going straight to the drilling rig — and we’re keeping that true by directing the additional funds they raise beyond our $1.2 million goal to purchase the second drilling rig. In turn, Virginia Clay’s match will cover the rest of that second rig, and then their remaining money will provide clean water projects for communities in Ethiopia.

The people who made (and keep making!) it happen.

We’ve been inspired by our September campaigners this year. From giving up their birthdays to coming up with new campaign ideas, our mycharity: water community was the driving force behind raising $1.2 million in three months. Here are a few fun campaigns we’re excited to share:

don't need bday
I Don’t Need a Birthday, People Need Water: David gave up his 25th birthday hoping to raise $1,000… and he blew through his goal by the end of his campaign.

goh soo
Because Our Bathtubs Drink Better Than 1/6 of the World: Goh Soo Lin lives in Singapore and studies environmental science; that’s where she learned that nearly a billion people live without clean water. To help, she gave up her 21st birthday and is $1,871 strong toward the goal of $5,000.

rickshaw
Rickshaw Run: These guys spent 14 days driving a rickshaw over the Himalayas, across India and through a desert — all to fundraise for the drilling rig. Check out the ride on their Facebook page here >

*We’re constantly keeping up with and getting inspired by our mycharity: water fundraisers. Check back with the blog each week when we feature a new fundraiser in our Campaign to Watch series.

So what happens now?

We’ve purchased the FS 250 drilling rig and last week, it shipped to Ethiopia. The second rig is in production. Fraste has sent us a few updates and our staff has been giddily passing around photos of the progress — we’re pretty excited. Take a look at charity: water’s brand new FS 250!

rig

We’ll mount a GPS device on the rig so you can watch it move from village to village, bringing clean drinking water to people in northern Ethiopia. The rig will be able to dig, on average, about 80 new wells per year. That means our partners can provide about 40,000 more people each and every year with access to life’s most basic need.

If you’re a September Campaign fundraiser or if you’ve signed up for our September Campaign updates, you’ll get an email from us early next year once we have the map up and tracking the
FS 250′s progress. Stay tuned!

Thanks to your support, your passion and your belief in our plan to scale our impact, September Campaign 2011 has been incredibly successful. We’re so grateful to have your help.

Learn more about September Campaign 2011 here >

Categories:

October 14, 2011
tweet this

from the field: the value of water in Mali.

1 comment
| comment here
mali nat

Oct. 2011 | Mali
Mali is famous for a number of things: the legendary city of Timbuktu, the extraordinary mud mosque of Djenné, an amazing music scene, among many other things -– but water supply isn’t one of them. Although the Niger River arcs through the southern part of the country, most of the land is covered by the Sahara and water is scarce…

… unless you know where to look.

I got to spend some time last month traveling in Mali around Segou and the capital Bamako learning about the Malian water situation and how some people are working to deal with it.

They’ve learned that 30, 40, 60 meters down, there are aquifers that can provide drinking water to rural towns and fast-growing urban communities. The communities I saw, even in rural areas, are densely settled and are ideal for community distribution systems. This is essentially a small utility that brings a high level of water supply to the community.

mali garden

The new water source also brings income to women -– I’ve seen women-managed communal gardens growing cash crops and women running or working at urban water kiosks. The close proximity of the water saves time for collection, and the cash generation helps women with the planned and unplanned expenses in life.

But what I found most encouraging about the solutions in Mali is the commitment of the communities to making it work: water pumps are powered by fragile solar panels, which provide energy for free, but are vulnerable to kids with rocks.

In other places I visited, the panels would be cracked within the month… not in Mali. The water systems are well protected, and the kids are very well behaved. In other countries, getting people to pay for maintenance of water systems is also a profound challenge… not in Mali. Water committees set appropriate tariffs for water fees and collect the money regularly. When asked, they produce bankbooks on the spot with up-to-date records.

mali solar

The value Malians place on water is palpable –- and they protect it as a resource critical to both their daily lives and their future. Mali is maintaining its water systems, developing skills to manage water supply both nationally and in communities, and monitoring its aquifers to make sure they aren’t depleted too quickly.

This is a context where sustainable solutions are just within reach. And with the right support to the Malian people, we can hope to see water supply become another reason Mali is famous.

– Nat Paynter
Director of Water Programs

Categories:

More »