With every project in clean water, Blood:Water funds full-scale programs in iWASH (Integrated Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene). This approach is critical as community behavior changes in hygiene and sanitation practices have the potential to more than triple the health impact of clean water alone.
This group of kids in Zambia is participating in a youth sanitation training game. Here they are creating a sanitation ladder to show how progressive improvements can be made in their community one piece at a time (and having a lot of fun in the process of learning).
Blood:Water's Africa Field Manager, Pamela Crane, explains,
The idea is that a village / a household can make incremental increases in sanitation. This helps people to understand what makes it better and also how improvements are within their reach. When we only talk about the worst or the best, the difference and the requirements to go from one to another can be paralyzing. The sanitation ladder aims to bring sanitation improvements (and thus related health improvements) within reach of each household.
Sanitation is simply a nice, clean [sanitized] word for adequate sewage and human/livestock waste disposal. You have access to improved sanitation everyday, that is, a toilet.
Lack of sanitation is the world's leading cause of infection. 2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation; 1.1 billion still practice open defecation. In fact, more people in the world have access to a cell phone than access to a toilet! These astonishing numbers lead to one even more staggering statistic: 3.41 million people die each year from water, sanitation and hygiene-related causes each year.
More than just clean water, Blood:Water funds full-scale programs in iWASH: Integrated Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene. This approach is critical as community behavior changes in hygiene and sanitation practices have the potential to more than triple the health impact of clean water alone. So we take sanitation very seriously, sort of...
The kids in Zambia aren't the only ones who can have fun learning about the importance of sanitation; you can too thanks to this fun little infographic some friends of Blood:Water created:
Jars of Clay joined WayFM's "The Wally Show" this morning to talk about Wally's "Well? Campaign" taking place all this week.
Wally recently traveled along with Blood:Water to Uganda to visit communities rebuilding their homeland after decades of war. Attacks led by a rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), forced many people to flee their homes. Now, upon returning to their homes, they face destroyed water sources and little or no access to resources like medical care.
Read more about Wally's experience and see photos and videos from his trip on Wally's Blog.
Since our work started with the local community, Blood:Water has been able to provide over 120,000 people in the region with access to safe water and medical care for the 27,000 living with HIV/AIDS. However, our work is far from over. Our goal for The "Well? Campaign" is to provide 10 wells in 10 communities and HIV/AIDS care for 275 people for an entire year.
Join Wally and the team to bring health and healing to the war-torn region of Northern Uganda.
Help us continue to restore lives by empowering the local communities to write a new history for those in Uganda.
I knew the Forty Days of Water commitment wasn't one to take lightly. I considered it last year but was too intimidated to sign up in the end. This year I vowed to take the challenge and prayed for endurance and an open heart. Without exception, no Lenten season has changed my heart as much as this one.
Over the course of Lent's forty days, I celebrated my birthday, received a big promotion at work, and traveled to the Middle East with a group of graduate students. I felt richly blessed by all of this, but at the same time disappointed to miss out on that glass of celebratory champagne or the decadent fresh-squeezed juices served to cool off in the oppressive desert heat. (Even more challenging was forgoing a large cup (or two!) of chai to help me recover from jet lag once I returned home.)
Abstaining from the beverages associated with these special occasions wasn't what most shaped my Lenten experience. Instead, it was the sheer repetition of trips to the kitchen sinks at work and at home that spoke to me. Time and time again as I stood at the tap watching my purple water bottle fill to the brim, I had to consciously reminded myself that I was not "sick" of water - an ironic word choice considering the number of water sources in the developing world that contain harmful pathogens or toxic metals while my tap water is perfectly safe. This humbling thought crossed my mind daily, if not more frequently. It is nothing short of a blessing to drink from the tap, even if that is your only drink for weeks on end. Our faucets provide unlimited, readily accessible, and clean drinking water on-demand; a reality unknown to nearly 1 billion people on our planet.
Despite my personal paradigm shift, my Lenten experience was not all about me. In fact, it was far from it. My friends, family and many others walked with me the entire way. Whether it was lifting me up in prayer, spending a day (or more) of solidarity in beverage choices, or making a financial contribution to Blood:Water Mission, I was so touched by the generosity of my community. And beyond my close-knit community, my water consumption solicited questions from coworkers, acquaintances and fellow travelers. Those questions then resulted in fascinating conversations covering topics from the global water crises to faith. Last but certainly not least, my Forty Days were all about people I've never met. People in Uganda, people in Haiti, and people in Afghanistan. Nearly 1 billion people around the world. No, I didn't solve the global water crises in Forty Days, but I did touch a handful of hearts. And the Forty Days certainly touched mine.
~ Rachel Hochstetler - Palo Alto, CA
VIDEO: A Forty Days Thank You from Our Ugandan Partners
Wally recently traveled along with Blood:Water to Uganda to visit communities rebuilding their homeland after decades of war. Attacks led by a rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), forced many people to flee their homes. Now, upon returning to their homes, they face destroyed water sources and little or no access to resources like medical care.
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B:WM Blog
Photo from the Field: WASH Education
With every project in clean water, Blood:Water funds full-scale programs in iWASH (Integrated Water,...