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Nashville is Making a Stand for Clean Water. Lemon:Aid Restaurant Week

Nashville Lemon:Aid Restaurant Week is underway! If you live in the Music City don't miss this great opportunity to support Blood:Water and enjoy some great local treats. Never has donating to Blood:Water tasted so sweet (and sour).

This week some of Nashville's favorite local restaurants have generously selected or even created special Lemon:Aid items to benefit Blood:Water. Visit any of these participating restaurants listed below between July 12-17 and ask for their featured Lemon:Aid item. A portion of your money spent will go to provide water to our friends in Africa. Below is a list of the restaurants and their special item. Be sure to thank them for their generous support. Capping off Lemon:Aid restaurant week in Nashville, Blood:Water is partnering with Musicians Corner this Saturday July 17th from 3-6pm ( more details below).

Throughout the summer we have invited supporters to create lemonade stands in their communities as a part of our "Lemon:Aid" campaign to raise funds for clean water projects. Hundreds of people across the U.S. have responded and set up their own stands. Even if you don't live in Nashville, you can still make your own stand in your community. Consider getting local businesses involved in your campaign as well. To learn more about the Lemon:Aid campaign and sign up, click here!

Germantown:

The Cocoa Tree - Lemon:Aid Truffle

The Cupcake Collection - sign up for your Lemon:Aid stand and receive

mini cupcakes!

Green Hills:

Bravo Gelato (Village Green location) - Lemon Sorbet

East Nashville:

Marché - Lemonade -&- Blackberry Lemonade

Nuvo Burrito - LE MONuvo Cocktail

Silly Goose - Basil Lemonade -&- Lemonade Cheesecake Ice Cream

Foxy Baking Company- Lemon Tart and other goodies

Cool Springs:

9 Fruits - Strawberry Lemonade Smoothie

Chick-fil-A - July 15-17, lunch & dinner only - mention Blood:Water Lemonade and a portion of the sales will go toward Lemon:Aid

Lemon:Aid Week in Nashville will culminate with a concert at Centennial Park on Saturday July 17. Musicians Corner presented by Blood:Water will feature Matthew Perryman Jones, The Kicks, Judd & Maggie, Nathan Lee and special guests.

Musicians Corner is a newly founded series of free Saturday afternoon concerts in Centennial Park featuring live music from 3-6 PM on a stage at the southwest corner of the park (near West End and 27th Ave. N., and McDonald's). Food, artisan vendors, and of course, Lemonade will be on hand. Be sure to stop by our Lemon:Aid stand and pick up a kit to create your own.

Read Discuss (0) July 13, 2010

A Different Type of Soccer Tournament

It seems like everywhere I turn right now I end up face to face with soccer because of the World Cup. The radio in my car and home, conversations with friends and family, and updates on twitter and facebook. Soccer fever is at its height around the world and I cannot help but think of a tournament in Northern Uganda that was finishing up just before the World Cup began.

The WASH (Water, Hygiene, and Sanitation) Soccer Tournament, which included 15 teams from communities in Northern Uganda, was a totally innovative way of approaching education, empowerment, and hope. When I first heard about the soccer tournament, I was not sure what to think and wondered if it would work. The soccer players were trained in basic WASH and tournament scores include an evaluation of village transformation in WASH including the presence of drying racks for dishes, latrines for using the bathroom, and tippy taps for washing hands. While I wondered how well this would work, good development is based on local innovation, and this is no exception.

In May I watched the quarter final and semi-final games for the WASH Soccer Tournament when I was in Uganda. As I sat on the sidelines watching and taking pictures, this is what I saw: excellent soccer, camaraderie, cheering fans, well matched teams, shoot-outs, and celebrations. In communities, I saw and heard of hygiene and sanitation practices adopted during the tournament and of how young men were becoming role models for boys. This was a different kind of soccer tournament - it brought WASH messaging that was truly adapted by the local population while also bringing transformation and hope. When I talk about the World Cup these days, I cannot help but be reminded of the WASH soccer tournament and the communities. A world apart, we are listening to, watching, and talking about the same games right now.

~ Pamela Crane, PhD, Africa Field Manager

Read Discuss (0) June 28, 2010

Summer Adventure Tours: Across America, Across Europe

The Ride:Well Tour:

Twenty-nine year old Anne Jackson could barely walk up a flight of stairs before almost passing out. Living with an undiagnosed heart condition made everyday activities not only challenging, but at times frightening. Inspired by a conversation with Ride:Well 2009 cyclist, Cody Henderson, she began to pursue a diagnosis and cure, promising if her heart could be fixed, she would ride the cross-country cycling tour in 2010. In August, Anne was diagnosed with Superventricular Tachycardia and had a successful surgery to fix the condition. Following through with her promise, she signed up for the tour.

After months of training, Anne and her husband, Chris, departed yesterday with 16 other cyclists and will ride from San Diego to Myrtle Beach over the next two months. At the same time, another team of 14 will head north along the Pacific Coast to Seattle. They'll be sharing the heart of Blood:Water Mission with churches and communities across the country as they raise funds and awareness for the community of Marsabit, Kenya. Chris and Anne were already big fans and supporters of Blood:Water Mission, and after a successful surgery in August 2009, Anne signed up for the 2010 Ride:Well tour. Six months later, Chris quit his job to go on the tour as well.

The Ride:Well Tour, powered by Venture Expeditions, is a cycling campaign to raise money and awareness for clean water & HIV/AIDS support in Africa through the work of Blood:Water. In the past two years the Ride:Well Tour has raised over $300,000 to provide clean water projects, clinics, sanitation projects and hygiene education for communities in Africa while educating people in countless communities across America about the water & HIV/AIDS crises many Africans face everyday.

Bookmark www.ridwelltour.org to follow blogs, pictures and videos from the team throughout the summer. You can also keep up with the tour on Twitter by following @ridewelltour. For more info on author, Anne Jackson, visit flowerdust.net.

(2010 Ride:Well Team)

The Earth Expedition:

The Earth Expedition is a literal walk around the world. The story of the Earth Expedition and it's first steps started as Daren Wendell's dream. Daren realized he did not want to just keep living life like those around him and he also saw that there were needs all over the world. He thought how he could help those needs, what he could do, instead of just living his life here in the US. If he could do something big that gains peoples' attention, to make a platform for him to speak into their lives about a need, a cause, maybe this would empower them to help those in need and also he desired to inspire people to live their life to its full potential. So he began to walk. He walked from San Diego, California, to Georgia, and he didn't stop there but walked the entire Appalachian Trail and continued up to Canada. He thought maybe he could walk around the world, by himself, but realized this was a bit too much for him and so he broke up the expedition into seven teams that would continue what he started and walk around the world for people in Africa who need water. Bryan Schlackman took up the quest and continued the trek in Scotland and went to Spain.

Today, 22-year-old, Daniel Frazier begins the 3rd leg of The Earth Expedition. Dan will walk across the continent of Europe, from Italy to Sweden almost 2,000 miles by foot for 88 days to continue this expedition of 18,000 miles around the world, to inspire people to live life to the fullest and raise awareness for the need of water in Africa. Visit www.theearthexpedition.com to follow Dan's adventure for Blood:Water.

Read Discuss (0) June 7, 2010

Healthy Steps

Yesterday I walked to a protected spring - about 500 meters down a bit of hill and back up a bit of hill. I did this with my camera bag slung over my shoulder and people watching my every step to make sure that I did not slip on the on the packed soil and clay. I was surrounded by small farm plots that men and women were working in - with the perfect clouds and blue sky above, it was a scene worthy of a movie.

When I arrived at the protected spring, I talked with a few women and men who were gathered there. They said that about 100 families from the village of Kabuga used this spring. The farthest people lived 2 kilometers away, but most lived closer - all of them uphill and most of them not visible from where we stood. I could not help but think - 2 kilometers uphill carrying 20 litres of water and maybe a baby on your back. I was out of breath with the bits of hill I had climbed. Admittedly, I am out of shape after having sat in vehicles and meetings for over 6 weeks. But, I know what it is like to carry a jerry can full of water and I know what it is like to walk steep hills and have no desire to combine the two in my daily life. And so my mind immediately wondered what more could be done or if a different water solution should have been chosen.

Our conversation continued, and I found the men and women smiling, filled with the joy of clean water and hygiene in their homes. Before the spring was protected, they would wait for water to fill the mud hole where the spring came out. If someone else had just collected water, they had to wait for the silt to settle. This water flows freely and is devoid of mud and silt. This means the water is cleaner and takes less time to collect giving women and children more time for other activities. They were taught hygiene - they boil drinking water and clean themselves and their children. They no longer spend lots of time and money at the medical clinic - both of which they put to good use elsewhere. These people are thrilled with their protected spring.

I cannot deny these changes in the people of Kabuga - they are real and they are powerful. I still hope that someday they will not have to walk for water, but this protected spring and the hygiene changes they have chosen to make in their homes are incredibly healthy steps. Yesterday was a beautiful reminder that often it is not the perfect solution that is needed, but instead, simply a step.

~ Pamela Crane, PhD, Africa Field Manager

Read Discuss (0) June 1, 2010

Sexual Social Networks

"Get out of the sexual network mum and dad or we might lose you."

This was written on a billboard beside a Ugandan road. The

accompanying image was two young children looking sad. Another

billboard from the same campaign had faces in circles all connected by

lines and a slogan about being connected in one spot connected you to

everyone. Social networking images and slogans to fight the spread of

AIDS.

I have never written about roadside AIDS campaigns but I cannot seem

to get this one out of my mind. And I try to not write about images

without an accompanying photo, but I saw these as we were driving

along the road and my camera was not ready to go. I did not stop for a

second look or ask the car to turn around, but these images are

imprinted on my mind.

Can you imagine them?

It has left me wondering if they have such an impact on Ugandans or if

it is the juxtaposition of the American connotation of social networks

against the sexual network talked about on these billboards that holds

my mind captive. The sexual/social network map is the same style I

have seen used to describe social networking in America. Powerful

imagery. Maybe this is a campaign that could be used in America.

How important are children in America?

Then there is the other part of this campaign. Every billboard tied

the problem of being a part of the "sexual network" back to families.

To children who would lose their parents. Children who would only

have grandparents. Here family is a powerful thing and your children

are viewed as your wealth. Does America place value on children in the

same way? I wonder if we view AIDS as something that impacts people

who do not have families - childless people partying and sleeping

around? I think this part of the campaign would fall flat in America

because it would simply not be understood, but I am clueless on how to

replace it.

At the end of the day, I doubt we will ever see huge billboards about

AIDS (prevention or testing) along American roadsides. In today's

world that is a privileged place to be as it suggests AIDS is not of

epidemic proportions (at least not in the mainstream culture). But if

we ever move that direction, I hope that we take some time to learn

from our brothers and sisters in Africa. I think they might have a

thing or two to teach us.

~ Pamela Crane, PhD, Africa Field Manager

Read Discuss (0) May 26, 2010

Teamwork in the Field

Today I was in the field to help with some hand pump installations. The team at Divine Waters Uganda had already drilled these wells and installed the well pad (the cement pad or apron that goes around a well protecting the well from erosion). There were five installations to be done and two teams sent out. My team was charged with two of the five installations.

I have done hand pump repair in the past, so know much of the information for this stage of creating a well, so thought I would be able to lend a hand rather than just take pictures and observe. What I did not consider when having that thought was the efficiency of the team I was joining. These three men knew what they were doing and automatically knew when to lend a hand to one another. They checked each other's work. And, beyond that, were including men from the community in the process. So many hands, all working together.

There is a part of me that is sad at not playing a role in these two hand pump installations - it feels good to play a physical part in the process. But, I simply was not needed. And so instead I watched beautiful teamwork from a team and a village. It was a beautiful day.

~ Pamela Crane, PhD, Africa Field Manager

Read Discuss (0) May 20, 2010

Still Walking for Water

I just completed my most extensive trip to Northern Kenya and it was so different from what I ever could have imagined. Last year I was praying for rain as the region was suffering from drought. The people were fighting to keep their herds, their livelihood and food source, alive. Then the rains began in November last year and have not stopped. This is the longest and hardest rainy season in the last 20 or 30 years. And so I saw fat animals and healthy children. Rivers jumped their bank, deserts became shallow lakes, and roads became muddy messes. The desert was speckled with green.

And yet, even as the rains continued, I visited a community that had moved away from a mountain spring to live in the shadow of a mountain. They moved because they realized they needed to be closer to a road and be more visible if they were to receive development help. They want 'better' things for their children, like a primary education. Now they have a school room but need a water source if they are going to get a teacher. One step closer, and they still spend hours walking for water. Rivers are flooding and yet people still have to walk for water.

~ Pamela Crane, PhD, Africa Field Manager

Read Discuss (0) May 17, 2010

Thirst for Dignity

On paper it looked like a fairly straight forward itinerary; 7 days in Kenya's desert north visiting some of the more remote communities Blood:Water has partnered with over the last several years.

In retrospect, it's hard to really decide what the most exciting part of the trip was: driving through a half-mile flood plain in the black of night before burying the land cruiser in a river;

waking up to discover hyena tracks near our tents where we were stranded; bolting from the tent between torrential down pours in the middle of the night with dysentery; scouting miles of muddy trek in bare feet, feeling for sink holes; nervously scanning the rocks in "Bandit Alley" for rifles as we careened through, hoping to avoid being shot at; the adrenaline rush of pulling our truck out of a wash as it was being engulfed by a flash flood; begging diesel off catholic nuns and somali traders after burning through both our main and auxiliary tanks; backtracking every 100km because of impassible roads; or finding a doctor to sew up a friend's hand when he slashed it open with a machete.

(click photos to enlarge)

I suppose there is some consolation to be found in the fact that Kenya is experiencing one of the heaviest rainy seasons in living memory and that rivers across the north were jumping their banks and spewing across the open plains. We weren't the only ones zigzagging the landscape like drunk sailors fighting our way upwind - we found many groups trekking across the desert on foot to the nearest cell tower to call for help, some having been stranded for days. Diesel was at a premium and so was water, clean water that is.

If I learned anything it's life is very uncertain in the desert. Communities there have no support crew to call on; no charter plane to whisk them away when the going gets tough; no bottled water to pul out from under the seat when they are 20km from the nearest water source. Most families last year lost large portions of their livestock during a 15-month drought. Those livestock represent the sum total of their very meager wealth - the food they eat, the currency they trade with, the transportation they need for long treks between water sources. Sitting in a small Samburu house while an elderly "grandma" made chai with goat's milk, I couldn't help but take stock of their simple possessions: crispy animal skins to sleep on, gourds for collecting milk, jerry cans for getting water, and a small assortment of metal and wooden tools necessary for carving out a desert existence.

Looking out the door across the vast desert landscape it's hard not to respect the raw courage and tenacity it takes to live here. The clean water we partner to bring is a huge step forward in achieving change in their lives - allowing schools to be built, reducing hardship on women and children, helping livestock to thrive, and building hope. In a community meeting where two interpreters were required to translate from Samburu to Swahili to English, a man stood up and said "Some people look down on us like animals. We want to be more than the animals we herd. Until we have water, our school house will be empty and our children will not have an education." Thirst in these communities is not just physical - there is a thirst to have dignity and be valued as people. I'm glad we can be a part of bringing both.

~ Barak Bruerd, Africa Programs Director

Read Discuss (0) May 14, 2010

A Photo Journey in the Northern Forgotten District, Kenya

(click photos to enlarge)

~ Pamela Crane, PhD, Africa Field Manager

Read Discuss (0) May 7, 2010

Working Women

Laughter and stories. Clanging metal tools. As I approached the outdoor shelter that is the small biosand filter factory, I wanted to join the work so that I could be a part of this team of women. Their job is to make biosand filters several days a week - the small 'factory' needed to increase their output, and these particular women had proven their skill and work ethic in recent trainings. Extra income for the women, extra output for the factory, and more people with safe drinking water in their homes. A good day.

Each one of these women has a story that deserves to be told. But today I only have time to tell you about one, Dainess. She is 25 years old, is married, and has three young children. She has an engaging smile, can read lips in Bemba, the local language, and writes basic English. Our conversation began with me writing, "My name is Pamela. What is your name?" Then the other women joined our conversation and simple sign language combined with lip reading took over. I am hesitant to say it, because I do not want Dainess to be categorized and put in a box, but she is deaf-mute. I dislike labels and boxes because they evoke specific emotions that might or might not be appropriate. Here, Dainess's deafness is part of who she is, but does not define her. Instead it is her family, her smile, her work ethic and her interaction with her peers that tell us about her character. Given the opportunity, I would choose to work beside her and hope that she would want to be my friend.

Pamela Crane, PhD, Africa Field Manager

Read Discuss (0) April 23, 2010

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