GiveBIG - May 2, 2012

This year Water for Humans will participate in the Seattle Foundation’s GiveBIG fundraising campaign on May 2^nd.  In addition to the donations made to the Water for Humans page of the Seattle Foundation’s website, they will also distribute the GiveBIG stretch pool on a proportional basis. What does that mean? If Water for Humans raises 2 percent of all the money raised through GiveBIG, then we will get 2 percent of the stretch pool. The more you give, the more of the stretch pool Water for Humans will get. Last year, every $100 in donations resulted in an additional $14 from the stretch pool, so every gift really does make a difference and results in more money for Water for Humans!

Water In The Time Of Cholera: Haiti's Most Urgent Health Problem

NPR - Morning Edition, April 12, 2012
In the teeming city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, millions of people have no reliable water supply.  Many of the underground pipes that did exist were ruptured by the 2010 earthquake. Many public water kiosks are dry.  So life for most people is a constant struggle for water. And now that cholera has invaded Haiti, safe drinking water has become Haiti's most urgent public health problem. Contaminated water is the main cause of cholera, which has sickened 530,000 Haitians since late 2010 and killed more than 7,000.

To listen to the NPR report, click here,

Oaxaca seeks declaration of "GM-free territory"

Members of the Monitoring Committee of the First State in Defense of Native Corn, reported that the "Corn for everyone in the Coast" promotes entry into the body of transgenic grain. In response, state claimed Oaxaca as "GM-free territory", so it submitted a formal request to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT).
In an interview, the representative of the group, Armando de la Cruz Cortes, said that the document emanating from the meeting held on March 31 in the Ethnobotanical Garden which was attended by indigenous peoples and communities.

He noted that even when there is food shortage in the state, the authorities have a policy to solve the problems facing indigenous peoples and on the contrary, the programs generated a strong dependency on agribusiness. With this, denounced, are allowed access to modified seeds, without giving up the impact, environmental, social and cultural development within the territory. Hence the delivery of this request to the Semarnat, it will also state government, since priority is given to the entry of GM and native seed stored in banks termoplasma. He said that Mexico imports more than 10 million tons per year from seed, of which 80 percent is genetically modified and is distributed through programs like Diconsa and through the "Corn for everyone in the Coast". He said that since 2002, when it detected the introduction of modified seed, there has been no study, so there is no knowledge of how far along pollution.
As he said, is a requirement to make the analysis, so they announced that they will remain to give the authorities response to this request.

With information from Olivia Hernandez