Water for all Further Research Myles Bates

The Transforming Power of Clean Water In Africa: An Interview With Amie LoPresti. By parkejladd on Feb 23, 2010parkejladd on Feb 23, 2010  Parke: How did Africa Water Is Life get started? LoPresti: In 2008 I went on two trips to Sierra Leone in Western Africa with World Hope International. While there we met and spoke with the President of Sierra Leone, and he told us of his people’s dire need for clean water. He told us that most of Sierra Leone has water residing just beneath the surface of the ground, but the people have no way of retrieving it. They have no means or money to drill down and take what is resting just below the ground upon which they currently live. We came back to the States impacted by the need, knowing we had to do something, so we started raising money. My church raised $150,000 and an anonymous donor matched it. Not long after that, we established Africa Water is Life as a marketing tool for World Hope International.While there we met and spoke with the President of Sierra Leone, and he told us of his people’s dire need for clean water. He told us that most of Sierra Leone has water residing just beneath the surface of the ground, but the people have no way of retrieving it. They have no means or money to drill down and take what is resting just below the ground upon which they currently live. We came back to the States impacted by the need, knowing we had to do something, so we started raising money. My church raised $150,000 and an anonymous donor matched it. Not long after that, we established Africa Water is Life as a marketing tool for World Hope International. in-africa-an-interview-with-amie-lopresti/

Key points  Water is available under Sierra, which at the moment is not being accessed.  Charities are sparking up a lot as most people want to help those in need.

Who gets the water?  Parke: What’s the water culture like within the villages before clean water? LoPresti: Women play a huge role in getting water. They are the water haulers. Daily, they carry these terribly uncomfortable 40lbs, 5-gallon buckets on their heads for miles at a time. Some walk with their buckets for more than five miles a day just to get water. I have a friend who saw an older, pregnant woman struggling to carry her water and decided to try and help her by carrying her bucket. She grabbed the woman’s bucket, but she couldn’t even lift it onto her head. It was too heavy. My friend described the smell of the water as an unbearable stench. She went on to say that it was a long, hard walk not made any easier with sloshing swamp water precariously resting on her shoulder as she breathed in the stench over the course of her journey back to the village. This is a trek that women, even pregnant women, make every day just to keep their families alive. The people’s animals swim in, defecate in, and walk through the same water which they use to cook with, bathe in, and drink. Seeing people consume this water, as the stench alone overwhelmed me, was truly humbling. I will never be the same. I think about it every time I turn on a faucet or have to choose between buying bottled water instead of tap. We take a lot for granted. We take water for granted. The next generation has to take ownership of this because it’s really going to be their problem and their challenge very soon.

Key points  Women and children usually collect the water.  They often carry 40lb, 50 gallon water containers on their heads.  The water is unclean and making all who use it very ill.

How much?  Parke: In Africa, what does drilling a well look like? LoPresti: The cost to drill a well in Africa is $4,850. That one well will supply 700-1,000 people with clean water for a very long time. One well can transform an entire village.

Key points  Creating a well costs only $4,850.  This supplies 700-1,000 people for a very long time.  However this is not permanent.

Response?  Parke: How do the villagers respond at the first site of clean water? LoPresti: They celebrate! In one village the water started pouring out of the ground, and the leaders, the men of the village, were completely silent. They couldn’t believe what was happening. They were silent, and their eyes were full of tears. They were weeping out of joy. They were so happy and thankful, they couldn’t hold back their tears. And then they danced! Women with buckets on their heads started dancing around, children started singing and performing. They put on a show for us! I believe water is a human right. Everyone should have access to clean water, and there they were, joyful and dancing over water, a basic human right we have with us every day.

Key points  Water is cherished, lives are saved and everyone is incredibly happy.  Lives are made easier and safer.

What’s next?  Parke: What happens when clean water is introduced into a village? LoPresti: It changes everything. Imagine, everyday you wake up and your stomach is more bloated than the day before. You are malnourished, dying from diarrhea. You have skin diseases from bathing in soiled water. You have terrible flu like symptoms–vomiting and uneasiness–every, single day. But, when we implement clean water, all of that goes away. Clean water changes everything. Women no longer have to walk miles each day to retrieve water. They can stay at home and plant gardens and prepare healthy meals for their families. The children are no longer sick or feeling nauseated. They can go to school and get an education. It’s far more than just water, it’s life. It’s living water. Water effects everything they do. Water effects everything we do! I challenge you, take away all of your typical sources of clean water and then go out and try to find clean water. Where would you go? These kids play in muddy, dirty, diseased water. The elders within these villages never thought they would see the day when clean water would come. The average life span is 42 years because of their struggle to survive. Due to dirty water, life is a struggle for survival. There is no advancing if you spend every day just trying to survive.

Key points  Life conditions improve.  Children get an education.  Food can be grown from home.  Life is livable and they are able to survive and develop.

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