Saludos (Hi) from all of us at Water for Humans!

The families of Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla and Victor Bravo Ahuja district of Oaxaca City have come to Water for Humans for assistance in securing clean safe water access.

Today, we are calling for your action to make a difference!

Imagine your child having to drink Coke in place of safe water.

That's what many Oaxacan families resort to.

The primary school in Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla has foregone buying school supplies in favor of providing expensive bottled water for its students.

They've come to us to ask for help to install a water filtration system instead.

Meet the students of Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla and Prof. Rosendo Barragan Mendoza

Professor Rosendo Barragan Mendoza teaches grade 6 at Valentin Gomez Farias Elementary School located in the village. Prof. Mendoza said, "Sometimes when we run out of water jugs and children are still thirsty, they have to drink water from the tap and this causes many diseases." He tells us that clean filtered water would allow the school to stop buying expensive bottled water - and spend the money instead on school supplies.

How is Water for Humans helping the children, and the school?
In continuing collaboration with INSO, Water for Humans will install a water filtration-purification system on the elementary school's water tank.

Estimated Project Cost: $500

How to Help

1) Spread the word about our efforts:

via our new site. Invite your Facebook friends and email contacts to join in our funding efforts (by clicking the icons to the left of the "Donate" button on the crowdrise webpage).

Crowdrise is a fast growing engagement tool/network that is helping many great causes fund the work that needs doing. If you have any question about how to join or set up a Team on Crowdrise, please Contact Us.

2) Give to Water for Humans directly at our site.

Thank you!
You are a person who cares about the world we live in and you have demonstrated that by supporting Water for Humans. Our new friends in Oaxaca's Central Valley say, "Muchas gracias!"

PS: Learn how your generous support will impact lives in Oaxaca and elsewhere by following the Water for Humans' Blog, our You Tube Channel and looking for updates on Facebook. We invite you to join the nearly 300 people who are "Followers" of Water for Humans on Facebook!

You can always donate directly at

Water for Humans Spring Newsletter: April 2011

Saludos from all of us at WFH (which means “Hi” in Spanish)!

Your steadfast support has made a big difference to people in Oaxaca, Mexico – mothers and fathers who are looking to WFH for help in giving their families safer homes and healthier lives.

They send their thanks and we join them: WFH exists because of you!

Some of you have asked me what WFH has achieved so far in 2011. The answer is…a lot!

Meet Ofelia Carrada Maribel Lopez

Last year, your gift provided key seed funding to plan a new sustainable water treatment facility in Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla. Until we reach that important goal, WFH is working in small ways to help the community access clean water.

Professor Ofelia Carrada Maribel Lopez teaches 3^rd grade at Valentin Gomez Farias Elementary School, located in the village. Prof. Ofelia said, “Sometimes when you run out of waterjugs and children are still thirsty, they have to drink water from the tap and this causes many diseases.” She tells us that clean filtered water from the tanks already in place would allow the school to stop buying expensive bottled water – and spend the money instead on school supplies.

How is WFH helping Ofelia and her students?

WFH, with full participation from INSO, is raising funds to install filtration systems on the elementary school’s water tanks. Estimated Project Cost: $500 

Meet Ines Avelina Barroso 

Donations like yours are making it possible for WFH to reach into new communities. Ines is a new community partner in the Victor Bravo Ahuja district of the municipality of Santa Lucia del Camino in Oaxaca City. She wrote to Water for Humans and INSO and asked for our help solving her neighborhood’s chronic water shortages.

This is what Ines told us: “Our neighborhood was a landfill and quarry before becoming a residential district. Originally, water service consisted of two spigots; over time, the delivery system was expanded. Now, due to the population growth it is extremely insufficient.  Last year, during the dry season most residences received water only two times per week for few hours per day. The water…is not potable.”

 

How is WFH helping Ines and her family?

Together with INSO, we have designed 8,000-gallon rainwater catchment systems – a pilot project to be tested in eight homes in the neighborhood homes. WFH submitted a grant proposal on May 2 to the Seattle International Foundation to fund this innovative, low-tech, sustainable solution. Estimated Project Cost: $6,000

On the ground with Nelly, WFH staff in Oaxaca

Your contributions in 2010 made it possible for WFH to hire a half-time staff member in Oaxaca – Nelly Fernandez Tellez. We are grateful (and Nelly is, too)!

Nelly gives WFH a human face – something difficult to do when an organization is headquartered thousands of miles away. She makes sure that community partners in Oaxaca – organizations like INSO and individuals like Ofelia and Ines – have someone they can talk to. Nelly also provides us with critical, on-the-ground updates about the changing situation in Oaxaca.

Recently, Nelly told us:

• The election of Daniel Ramirez in Villa de Etla means the treatment plant project will go forward.
• The newly elected mayor of Santa Domingo Barrio Baja Etla, Severo Jesús Santiago Ruíz, is a close confidant of the prior mayor, Maria Soledad Diaz Gonzalez, one of WFH’s greatest champions in Oaxaca.
• Ex-mayor Diaz met with State Water Commission Rolando García Rodrigo Varela to bring him up to speed on status on replacing the derelict treatment plants in Santa Domingo. During the meeting, he committed his support for our approach and project, which is another key milestone for us.

In Seattle with Rick and Stan

Your assistance motivates WFH’s co-founders, Rick McKenney and Stan Brown to keep focused on the mission: provide low-cost, clean water solutions to underserved populations while ensuring that water remains a local, public resource.

Rick reports, “Seattle University law students, Misha Sandusky and Joe Helt, are working to complete our Federal IRS 501(c)3 paperwork, as part of a course led by Judy Andrews on nonprofit legal issues.” This is an important step in WFH’s growth and stability (although we continue to be gratefully to our fiscal sponsor, A.W.I.S.H).

Stan adds, “We have recruited eight board members, twelve advisers and nineteen dedicated volunteers (in the areas of translation, marketing, development, economics, web development, public health, environmental engineering and cultural affairs).”

Want to volunteer and help the people of Oaxaca? Just contact Rick RickM@WaterforHumans.org or Stan StanB@WaterForHumans.org

What’s next for WFH?

Watch your email inbox in the coming weeks for an important announcement: WFH is partnering with crowdrise.com, an online social networking and philanthropy website, in an innovative fundraising campaign to make sure that Ines and Ofelia’s dreams come true.

Thank you!

You are a person who cares about the world we live in and have demonstrated that by supporting Water for Humans. Our new friends in Oaxaca’s Central Valley say, “Muchas gracias!”

 PS: You can stay in touch with the Water for Humans team by reading our blog or following us on Facebook – almost 300 people already “like” WFH!

Water testing at the School in Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla

MARCH 22, 2011.
By Our Oaxaca staff  Nelly Fernandez Tellez
I made a visit to the school in Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla meet with the head master; Valentin Gomez Farias to test the water quality, receiving the parameters measured were: pH, hardness, alkalinity, dissolved oxygen, iron, manganese, salmonella, E. coli, Aeromonas and other coliforms.

 
These tests were made because "Water for Humans", aims to get to install filters at school, and thus the school can stop buying jugs of water. The children will be able to drink water straight from the tap and the money save will be used to invest in material for children or school improvement in general.

 
The results were quite favorable and we can say that although the water is clean, We do not feel nor do the children & staff feel safe drinking untreated water. This is because none of the incoming well water is treated or inspected on a regular basis.  Thus we hope to install a water purifying filter to ensure the greater safety of the children and staff.

February 2, 2010, Tuesday

February 1, 2010, Monday

It was a holiday (Constitution Day) so INSO was closed.  The morning was relatively at our leisure.  We  decided to visit the Textile Museum.  They have a great exhibit of Guatemalan Textiles and embroidery.  The women weave the cloth by hand with a back-strap loom or a large loom with foot pedals.   The back-strap loom is used to make long narrow pieces which the artist can then embroider on.  Many of the pieces incorporate symbols and tell stories of their culture.

A part of the exhibit was a movie (in Spanish) of 10 women who had immigrated to the US in hopes of a better life.  Most of them missed their life in Oaxaca and returned after a period of time.
In another part of the museum, a women’s cooperative had taken over one room to tell their stories.  The women formed the cooperative to sell and market their work in the US and provide income for their families.  At the same time, they wanted to get an education and learn to read and write Spanish.  In return the older women would teach the younger women their native language and pass on their needlework skills. Their embroidery reminds me of the story quilts the Hmong women make.

Lunch was almost a misadventure at a place near the big produce/ artisan near the Zocalo.  We looked at the menu ordered what we thought was bean soup for Rick.  Stan and I (Susan) ordered Garbanzo Bean Soup.  We got the Garbanzo Bean Soup, but I switched with Rick when his Mac and Cheese came.  The main course was, I (Susan) thought, Chicken with Yellow Mole sauce.  It was Chicken and Vegetable Stew.  It was very good and very filling.  Stan had chicken with grilled onions and peppers and refried beans.  Dessert was a guayaba (guava).

We then returned to Rosalinda’s and rested.

Francine, a woman from Nova Scotia, now living in New Westminster, BC, returned and needed to look for sunglasses.  We directed her to the shopping area down by the large market.  I (Susan) decided to walk with her. We found some sunglasses and then walked about a mile or so to find a building she needed to write about for her class.  The building is a Catholic church which was connected to a convent at one time.  Now the convent is an art gallery and cultural center.  We then walked back to the pension.
Dinner was again at the “hole-in-the-wall” around We all had excellent Pozole.  Pozole is a soup of pork, cabbage, and hominy with spices making it rojo.  Without spices, it is blanco and bland.  We also had a pitcher of Jamiaca juice.  Rick said it is the best Pozole he’s had in years.  I translated that for the lady.  She said Pozole is a very old popular dish.  Rick also had a couple of tacos.  The television was blaring again, but the food was great.
 
February 2, 2010, Tuesday
Morning was spent at INSO.  I looked at several sites on the computer pertaining to sustainability and reuse of waste-water. On the way to INSO, we made our usual stop at the “Mango Lady” and found out her name is Elena.  I told her we know her as the “Mango Lady”, and she said or the “Fruit Lady”.  She was very concerned about Rick paying more for his pineapple than Stan and I paid for our papaya and watermelon.  From a morning of phone calls our week is filling up with important meetings.  Nelly is working hard to contact several cities that have functioning wetlands to determine how they cover the O&M costs. We are exploring many opportunities with respect to the O&M issue and some of our leads are panning out as potential solutions.  However, we still have lots of work left to do.

Let´s Start with Schools

One of our first priorities for the target communities we work in is to provide filters free to schools. Access to potable water will better students´ working environments, allowing them to focus on their studies while enjoying safe, clean drinking water. We also hope to educate students about water, sensitizing them to current issues and providing hands-on activities that teach solutions.

A great place to search for water education resources is Schools Water Portal, a Website founded by Arghyam that provides comprehensive, captivating and fun activities for school-aged children. And best of all, the dozens of materials on projects such as rainwater harvesting are FREE. Educators around the globe are encouraged to use the presentations, quizzes, plays, debate topics, water stories and more, all focused on water.

Arghyam´s history of developing water management programs, trainings and solutions is impressive. Check out its other comprehensive Websites, India Water Portal and India Sanitation Portal.