womenwater

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SHOUT OUT TO THE STUDENTS OF Jefferson County International Baccalaureate (JCIB) for their incredible work raising the awareness of the global water crisis and raising money to support GWWI women to bring safe water and sanitation to their communities!

JCIB is a magnet school located in Irondale, Alabama. It has repeatedly been ranked in the top 10 public schools in America and is considered one of the best IB programs in the country. JCIB prides itself on the diversity of its students, teachers, as well as its academics. There is a wide variety of classes and clubs available for the students, allowing them to reach their full potential in both academics and extracurriculars. One of the classes offered to students at JCIB is the New Global Citizens class, which focuses on global issues such as poverty, diseases, armed conflict, and many other challenges being faced by people all over the world.

During the New Global Citizen’s studies on gender equality, the students learned about the hardships women across the globe face everyday. When researching different organizations, they found the Global Women’s Water Initiative, which “trains grassroots women leaders to be experts in the areas of water access, water quality, and sanitation.”

Sommer Brown’s New Global Citizens class designed water bottles and sold them as a fundraiser to support Global Women’s Water Initiative. These water bottles were sold to over one-third of the school. In total, a $560.69 profit was made for the Global Women’s Water Initiative.

The pictures above demonstrate some of the activities students engaged in to make this fundraiser a success. Posters advertising the water bottles were created, students designed both the water bottle and the tag attached and began selling their water bottles at their school to students, as well as administrators and teachers. Each water bottle cost $4.38 and was sold  for $10 each, making a $4.56 profit per water bottle.

The hard work and dedication of these students paid off. Thanks to them, over $560 was raised. The profits these students made are all going to helping women in  underdeveloped countries create opportunities for themselves while creating lasting and sustainable water resources for their community.

Thank you JCIB for your vision and passion and for bringing health, wealth and H2ope to East Africa!

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#HappyWorldToilet Day! Today we celebrate our partners AWARE in Kaaboong, Uganda. In the last 2 years, they have been able to teach their community to build their own toilets which has resulted in over 240 toilets.

But it wasn’t an easy road! When the AWARE team first built toilets in their community, they completely resisted. The people in the region had been accustomed to relieving themselves in the open fields so when they were told to start using the toilets that were built, they rejected by defecating around the new toilets, not in it!

AWARE immediately re-strategized and conducted hygiene and sanitation workshops and invited the warriors of the community to help them build toilets. The warriors were so impressed by AWARE they not only helped build toilets, they went home and built their own. The 240 toilets that were built are now serving over 480 households (apporx 3,360 people)!

The ripple effect is real!

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Meet Baby Gloria. She was the first baby born in Sisokhe Dispensary (clinic) in Kakamega, Kenya. Global Women's Water Initiative's partners and trainees from Women in Water and Natural Resources Conservation built rainwater harvesting systems and water tanks at the dispensary because there was no water available. Normally, when a heath service required water, the nurses would have to walk far distances just to treat the patient, so you can imagine how few people they could treat. After the tanks were built, not only did the dispensary increase it's health services for patients, it could start offering birth delivery services including pre-natal and post natal care. Gloria's father had heard that the dispensary had water, so when his wife Aysha went into labor, he brought her to the clinic - which was not an option when they had their first 3 babies. In the first 2 months, the dispensary had delivered 18 babies! The 18th baby was born when they were filming a documentary featuring the work of our amazing women (see story below). WATER IS LIFE. INDEED.

WE WILL DOUBLE YOUR DONATION AND TURN YOUR RIPPLE INTO A WAVE! 

A generous donor has pledged a $7500 match to your donation! That means your $20 will turn into $40, $100 into $200 and $500 into $1000! We have until September 30 to get the full match!

To give you an idea of how far your donation goes, last year we invested $15,000 in our trainees, and now 10,000 students and patients at village health centers have access to clean water! Our women trainees are building technologies that are improving community health, increasing school attendance and as in the case with Gloria, LITERALLY bringing healthy babies into the world!

DONATE HERE AND DOUBLE YOUR IMPACT!

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PRE-SCHOOL IN KENYA AVOIDS CHOLERA OUTBREAK WITH BIOSAND FILTERS

There was a recent cholera outbreak in Kihoto Village, a slum in Naivasha, Kenya. But the 100 students of Kihoto Baharini Pre-school were able to avoid getting sick thanks to the new Biosand filters that were installed at their school thanks to your support!

LIfe Bloom Services, our local partner in Naivasha, learned how to build the Biosand filter at our training last May 2014. The Biosand filter can be built locally using local materials and can effectively clean water removing 90-99% of disease causing pathogens - including cholera. Life Bloom chose Baharini Pre-School to install the filters, because it was the only school in the slum that offered free education, clothing and food to the students. The students who attend are from families who can't afford to pay school fees or provide their chidlren with education.

Head teacher Florence told us that before the Biosand filters were installed, the school had to buy water even though they had borehole water on the school grounds. The borehole water was much too contaminated so they bought so-called 'clean' water from water vendors delivering the water by donkey. Despite the claim the water was clean, the children still complained of stomach aches and headaches, and when they fell very sick, had to be brought to the hospital, another added expense for the school.

Since the installation of the Biosand Filters the school no longer had to purchase water. They were able to use the water already on school grounds and just pour it thorugh the filter. Florence was convinced how effective the filter was when they had no incidences of cholera with the students despite a recent outbreak. So, with the money saved from not having to buy water or taking the children to the hospital, Florence was able to buy more fresh fruit and food for the students.

Thanks so much for your support and helping us bring H2ope to women and children in East Africa!  

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HUGE wave of thanks to Calabasas High School New Global Citizens Chapter in Calabasas, CA for raising over $2500 for GWWI! Their donations will support our work to help women bring clean water to people in East Africa!

They launched a campaign called the “Dirty Water Pledge” for World Water Day raising the awareness of the global water crisis and the affect it has on women and girls. They had demos on campus, handed out bottles of dirty water to show the challenges women and girls face, and even sent out letters of support. 

Thanks to leadership of (pictured L to R) Holly Ostovar- Secretary, Andrew Isaac- Co-President, Brayden Ainsworth - Co-President , Bardia Barahman- Vice President, our women trainees in East Africa have the resources to bring h2ope to their communities. 

Special thanks to New Global Citizens for bringing our work to the CHS and building a wave a change across the globe!

@ngcitizens

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[H2opeful Women] GWWI East Africa Training Team Take on the World!

Meet Godliver, Comfort and Rose. They are the future of GWWI in East Africa. In 2011, Rose and Comfort were selected as volunteer Fellows for our Inaugural Fellows Program. GWWI discovered that one of the best ways to discover the real challenges the trainees were facing was to assign them local women to serve as liaisons and cheerleaders. Being an international organization, GWWI had to face the fact that there were cultural dynamics that might prevent us from fully understanding what the trainees were going through and that they may not feel as comfortable sharing all their challenges with us. Comfort and Rose learned alongside the trainees and throughout the year, kept in constant touch with them even going to the trainees' villages to help them overcome their obstacles.  In addition, Godliver came on board as the technology trainer and advisor and became our resource for questions and concerns regarding the construction of all the technologies.

These new relationships proved to be essential for GWWI to build the trust with our trainees so they could be fully transparent with us when they reported back. This in turn gave us the essential information we needed to provide customized support for each team. 

Godliver, Comfort and Rose came on full time in 2012 and because of their extraordinary work, they have been recognized internationally!

Godliver Businge was invited to the United States in Nov 2014 to speak for African Food and Peace Foundation about as well as Stanford University about her role as a female engineer breaking barriers in Africa!

Comfort Mukasa was invited to speak at the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Sustainability International Forum in Amsterdam, Holland and was selected as a Women in Public Service Fellow, a program launched by Hilary Clinton. With her background as a public health official, she has much to contribute to the international conversation about WASH.

Rose Wamalwa just completed her 6 month Community Solutions Fellowship sponsored by the US State Department. Of the 1500 applications, she was one of 55 people selected and was a third place finalist in her final presentation. 

These powerful women are changing the course of water in East Africa and they are poised to take over all GWWI programs by 2017!  They are raising the voices of women in Africa and bringing their message to an international audience!

If they are a reflection of what is in store for women and water, then the future is full of H2ope!

JOIN US! Help us raise $20,000 by Dec 31, 2014! Invest in women here.

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By Gemma Bulos, Global Women's Water Initiative Director “I have been a sex worker for so many years, but when I met Godliver (GWWI Head Technology Trainer), I have withdrawn. She trained me on tanks, now I can make bricks, I can make a tank... I think I can almost be a technical engineer!” Phionah Mbugua Every once in a while you come upon someone who is truly the embodiment of transformation and inspiration. For our Global Women's Water Initiative, Phionah Mbugua is that person.

Phionah was one of Life Bloom's clients. When her husband left her 14 years ago with 2 kids, she had to raise her children on her own. And with a 7th grade education, she felt her only alternative was to sell her body.  She was invited by Life Bloom to learn how to build a rainwater harvesting system and tank from GWWI Technology Trainer Godliver Businge. Phionah was astounded to meet a woman who not only could build things like tanks and toilets, but who was teaching other women these same skills. Because of Phionah’s talent and interest, Life Bloom’s Executive Director who has been elected as the Board Chair of her local water board, withdrew from the GWWI training program to let Phionah take her place. Phionah has since been hired by Life Bloom as their first WASH program manager and is currently construction WASH technologies, offering WASH education in schools and in the community. And she's getting getting paid to do this work. In this video Phionah shares with her GWWI sisters and fellow participants her story of transformation. (Transcript below)

Hello. I think I’m one of the retired sex workers! I have been a sex worker for so many years, but when I met Godliver, I withdrew. She trained me on tanks, now I can make bricks, I can make a tank, I think I can almost be a technical engineer. Yea, with my fellow colleagues the sex workers,  we have done the first tank we did it in a primary school and we want to do the other tank in a primary school.

So my fellow sex workers, they are very happy because when you come from building the tank, in the evening, we are so tired, even we can’t be able to go to the streets! I appreciate Godliver for the change she has brought to us because we were selling our bodies day and night you see because we don’t have anything to do in our life. Like, we don’t have courses. Like me, I learned up to class 7.

So right now, I’m learning, I want to do my class 8 next year. I want to get my diploma certificate this year so I’m sure I’ll do it, because you have empowered me.  Now my children are appreciating me. They are appreciating my job, even my family. Because before I was a drunkard, I couldn’t even listen to them. But right now I’ve changed. Like now my mom yesterday was asking me “Oh, where are you going?” and I told her, “I’m going meet other women in Kisumu. I’ve never been to Kisumu.” And right now, even me , I don’t even feel like selling my body.  I’m very fit now. I’m 45 years (old). I’m retired and I don’t want my young girls who are behind me to follow my steps. Right now I want to follow these steps – of building tanks. Building biosand. And I think for biosand I am qualified because the last three weeks, the mortar followed me so I think  I have one certificate.

So I thank you ladies. We are together. I’m from Life Bloom. And I think because I’m interested, that’s why my boss withdrawn for me, ‘you can go instead of me Phionah.’ Because I’m interesting, interested and I’m strong.  And I will do it. And right now I’m going for another tank. Thank you so much!

JOIN US! You can help us train more and more women who can bring clean water, improve health and transform themselves and their communities. We have a $20,000 fundraising goal by Dec 31, 2014. We're already halfway there! Donate here

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[H2opeful Women] Water Champions are Ageless!

Meet Angella Tassas from Moyo, Uganda, the northernmost district on the border of Sudan. In the past 3 years she has been participating in an intensive Women and WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) training program with Global Women's Water Initiative. A retired nurse and former refugee, she returned back to Moyo after having lived in Sudan during Uganda's Civil War.

She knew that in order to rebuild her community, health and wellness was a priority. As a lifelong health educator, she had always been able to advise her community how to practice proper hygiene and how to stay healthy. 

When she came to the GWWI training, she learned more tools and solutions to connect good health with access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). This not only enhanced her community health education, she also learned how to build technologies (water tanks, toilets, water filters) and make products (soap, shampoo, chlorine) that could improve community health.

Because of her new knowledge and activities - having built tanks, toilets, water filters and selling soap and offering WASH education - she was invited to be the Secretary for Water and Works in the Moyo District. She is now bringing women's voices to an issue where it is sadly underrepresented. At 67 years young, Angella is poised to influence local policy in her region.

This just proves that you can be a Water Champion at any age!

JOIN us as we support women who are changing the course of water in Africa!

Help us raise $20,000 by Dec 31, 2014! Invest in women here.

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[H2opeful Women] Catherine Ondele, Local Nurse Transforms Her Local Clinic With Water Solutions!

Catherine Ondele is a nurse in a small village near Kakamega, Kenya. In 2012, her clinic was suffering because they could only provide very limited services since any health treatment requiring water required that she and her other nurses walk hours to fetch the water.

Catherine has since been attending the GWWI Training Program with our partners Women in Water and Natural Resources Conservation. In just 2 years, because of her new water, sanitation and hygiene knowledge, she has built 2 rainwater harvesting tanks, was able to start a birthing center in the clinic, taught hundreds of people how to practice good water-related hygiene practices, and now taught them how to test water having installed biosand filters into the clinic to ensure that their water is safe.

As a result

- the clinic opened a birthing center and has been delivering an average of 30 babies per month

- the clinic received funding from the government because of their healthy birth rates

- Catherine has held regular water health workshops at the clinic teaching hundreds of people to avoid getting water related disease

- all the nurses and employees got a raise from their new funding from the government!

Catherine is a supreme example of how water education and solutions can bring health and wealth to communities! She has transformed her once suffering clinic to become a thriving center for health services, water and health education and learning about affordable water and sanitation technologies! Brava Catherine!

GIVE H2ope this Holiday! Help GWWI Raise $20,000 by Dec 31, 2014 to support women like Catherine to bring sustainable water and health solutions to their communities!

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WITH WOMEN EMPOWERED CHANGE IS POO-SSIBLE!

In rural Uganda, when Josephine Auma first tried to introduce toilets to her community, it was met with resistance and even protest. It was a big surprise to the community of agro-pastoral herders that she serves since they had been practicing open defecation in the fields for generations. They even had a traditional belief that if they stepped in poop, that their number of cattle would increase, so changing their behavior was going to be challenging. As she was building her toilet with her organization AWARE (Action for women and Awakening in Rural Environment), she would construct part of the toilet and arrive the next day to see it destroyed. When the toilet was finally completed, people refused to use it and defacated around it.

Eventually, Josephine organized small gatherings to provide some tools and education that helped the community recognize that their practices were putting them at risk of getting sick. She guided them to test their own water to see exactly how their open defecation practices could contaminate their water and how better hygiene practices could reduce their chances of getting diahrrea, the third highest cause of death of children under 5. Josephine then trained them to build toilets together, and as a result, not only did the community start to use the toilets, but within 8 months 60 households built their own.

In Africa, it is estimated that more people have cell phones than toilets. Without toilets, women and girls are at risk of violent attacks when they have to openly defecate. Girls can't go to school one week a month or drop out entirely at puberty when they get their periods because there are no toilet facilities. Further, it puts the whole community at risk when waste is not contained because it can contaminate the water source. 

Josephine has been participating in our intensive 3-year Women and Water Training program where she learned how to build multiple water and sanitation technologies as well as entrepreneurial skills so she can make money.

There is a saying in Africa. "If you educate a man, you train an individual. If you educate a woman, you train a nation!" With women leading the way, educating and informing, change is POO-SIBLE!!

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GUEST BLOGGER: LACY COLLEY, VOLUNTEER PHOTOGRAPHER

Traveling to Uganda for the first time was more than an opportunity for us. It was about women, hope, and most importantly water. My sister Kirby, naturally one of my favorite women, was able to travel with me - literally packed on a bus like sardines for eight hours, a ferry across the Nile, and finally a boda boda (motorcycle taxi) to get us to our destination. Moyo town approximately has 25,000 people, and is located in Northern Uganda, close to the border of Sudan.

We arrived to Moyo alongside GWWI Uganda Team Coordinator Hajra “Comfort” Mukasa. Talk about a passionate woman! I knew she was ingenious with a sense of fire and punch. I asked her why she chose to be a WASH (Water, Hygiene and Sanitation) expert, and she replied proudly “It’s what I know, it’s what I believe in.” Could you imagine if we all felt this way about our careers?

Angella, Martha and Anastasia, the three leaders within GWWI Moyo, sat down with us when we arrived and gave us a little history on how they came together. In amazement, these grassroots women have accomplished many goals, from enrolling in WASH training programs to educating their community on the importance of sustainable clean water solutions. They also mobilized funding to buy an ISSB (interlocking stabilized soil block) machine that enables them to build these rainwater tanks, and they hope to soon build homes for families, and work outside their town of Moyo. Angella says all in all for them it is about working hard for where they are from and being together happily. 

Godliver Businge who heads up the GWWI training team with her technology expertise in engineering and construction, led everyone on the plan, and enabled every woman to be involved whether by plumbing bob measure, laying, or binding and leveling the bricks to ensure their strength.

After the first day of forming the bricks and laying the foundation for the tank, we were at the next stage of laying the bricks, binding them with mortar, and building the tank wall. By end of day the tank was up, 3 meters high, and ready for plastering, cleaning, roofing, piping, and finally the tap. We cheered, hugged, and stood proudly by the tank,our tank. As Godliver stated, this project is inspirational to her because it’s women coming together to complete such demanding manual labor. And in the Ugandan society, women work longer hours than the men, and bear the double burden of ensuring their households are cared for and fed adequately. To describe this project Godliver says it’s simply wholesome. An incredibly insightful word choice, as it truly represents the water project’s ability to promote health and support the well-being of the community. Wholesome ultimately describes the minds and hearts of the women behind the bricks. 

  We had arrived to that moment, to be surrounded by truly powerful women that came from nothing, to let us in on their love. And by nothing I mean their community was destroyed in a war in 1979, and their lives were uprooted to Sudan, eight years later to return to Moyo that was demolished. They had to start over, and be stronger than ever, determined to help their community move forward. Their return, their ride was a lot more bumpy then ours to Moyo town to say the least. Reflecting at the end of our time in Uganda, the voices of the women resonate in our souls. We are one. We all wake to the same sun, close our eyes under the same stars, breathe the same air, and hope for the same dreams. One day, we will all drink the same water. 

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2010 West African Women and Water Training

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“Can you train my wife to do what you do?” was a common question Grace Mushongi of Bukoba Women’s Empowerment Association would hear from some of the local men while she was building rainwater harvesting systems and tanks in villages around Bukoba, Tanzania. Even her husband bragged to the masons who were building their house to seek help from his wife, because after all, she was a mason too! 

But if you’d have met Grace two and half years ago, she would not have been able to tell you how to mix cement, explain the elements of a rainwater harvesting system or test water.  Since participating in the Global Women’s Water Initiative Training Program, Grace and her partner Rachel Nyamukama have been able to build water technologies that have already provided over 2000 people with water in her region. Prior to Grace and Rachel’s efforts, women would have to walk upwards of 8 hours a day to fetch water at the dirty river.

Grace and Rachel have learned how to build two kinds of water tanks, a variety of water catchment systems, two kinds of toilets as well as how to manufacture soap, shampoo, reusable sanitary pads and toilet digesters to sell locally. They are continuing their WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) training in April where they will learn how to make and build different water treatment options to clean contaminated water. They are both well on their way to being able to provide full water and sanitation services in their community to address water access, water quality and sanitation.

But Grace and Rachel couldn’t have done it alone. With the support of Women’s Global Connection, a foundation in Texas, and their biggest cheerleader, Patricia Lieveld a professor at a local university, Grace and Rachel were able to raise over $20,000 to cover the costs of their participation in the training, seed grants and technology construction.

When we visited Bukoba, wherever we went, everyone called Grace their ‘local water champion’ – because she didn’t just build technologies, she taught other women how to build them and encouraged people to treat their water and wash their hands.

 “I used to think that you had to be educated to be a trainer! But look at me now!” Grace told GWWI.

Grace now wants to have a greater impact! She has since enrolled herself in school to learn how to speak English so that she can train people in surrounding regions.  

Grace is an amazing example that GWWI is all about - supporting women to unleash their strengths and providing them with the tools to step into their role as water champions!

[womenwater]

When Grace Mushongi came to the GWWI training in Kampala in Summer of 2011, she was working as a community organizer and Board Member for Bukoba Women’s Empowerment Association. Grace brings groups of women together to discuss development projects and increase women’s participation in the management of their livelihoods. Prior to the GWWI Women and Water Training, BUWEA assisted women with funding for purchase of cows, goats, pigs, and other supplies in order to maintain a method of increasing their household income, and allowing their children to attend school. When Grace returned home from the GWWI training with her partner Rachel Ndyamukama, they were able to introduce water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) education for improved health; water testing techniques so they can identify contaminated water sources and introduce affordable ways to clean their water; and rain harvesting technologies to help women have access to water closer to their homes instead of walking upwards of 8 hours to fetch water.

Since the training and with GWWIs ongoing on-site and virtual support, Grace has helped train women in her community to build 5 rainwater harvesting systems with tanks providing clean water to over 1000 people in Kasangi, Tanzania. Grace not only has the passion and the drive, she now has the solutions to bring much needed change in her community! Grace and Rachel are just one of the ten GWWI Teams who are part of GWWIs 2013 Program Women-led WASH Service Center Training, where they deepening and strengthening their capacity as WASH technicians, educators, facilitators and solutionaries!

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Rachel and Grace were participants at Global Women’s Water Initiative Training program in 2011. Both Rachel and Grace work in leadership roles at the Bukoba Women’s Water Empowerment Association (BUWEA) in Tanzania. BUWEAs ultimate goal is to create opportunities for women living in rural areas to increase their household income. BUWEA has over 350 women members in 61 groups in 30 villages of Bukoba.  WASH Education, solar cooking, water testing and leadership development were among the other topics covered in their training. During the training program, Rachel and Grace learnt how to build various rainwater harvesting systems and a ferro-cement tank. A ferro-cement tank is   made of cement, rebar, chicken wire and other locally available material. They believed that this skill would be useful for them and other members in the group to collect rainwater and store it. This will save the women from walking long distances to fetch water every day. As part of the GWWI Training program, each team selected to participate is encouraged and supported to build the technology they learnt. Rachel and Grace built their first roof catchment and ferro-cement tank with GWWI’s financial and technical support. GWWI provided a $1500 seed grant as well as on-site technology trainers and GWWI Fellows who came to the village of Kishange to help build BUWEAs first rainwater harvesting system. Their first course of action when Rachel and Grace returned home was to mobilize the BUWEA women, village leaders and volunteers. They offered do so peer education programs in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. Despite the rain and family chores, the BUWEA women came everyday and often stayed past the time commitment knowing they had much to learn! They instantly got community support and selected sited to build their first rain harvesting system.

To construct the second rainwater harvesting system and tank, BUWEA had to mobilize their own resources while the GWWI Team provided technical, planning and grant-writing support. Within three months of building their first rainwater harvesting system, BUWEA was able to write a successful funding proposal to Women’s Global Connection and by January 2012, BUWEA women were able to build two more rainwater harvesting tanks, train more women and provide water for more families!  BUWEA women were incredibly dedicated, grouping their resources for a common goal, sharing the benefits of their success, communicating and forming strong relationships with one another. Women from other BUWEA-supported communities who were not going to benefit from the actual tank came knowing that they would someday be able to implement this technology and share this knowledge in their villages. There is power in partnership!

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Angella and Martha have two big reasons to celebrate and are one step closer to reaching their goal of providing their community with access to water!  First, they were able to raise funds from their local supporters and community members to buy an ISSB brick-making machine to build strong water tanks and rainwater harvesting systems! At the cost of approximately $1500 which is quite an accomplishment!  And second, they won the Best Booth at the Moyo District Women’s Day Celebration!

Angella and Martha are from Marindi in Northern Uganda, a region that has been plagued with conflict for decades. Both are retired nurses and have been working tirelessly as facilitators and volunteers to improve community health for the most vulnerable people in their communities – women, orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA).  Angella and Martha came to the Global Women’s Water Intiative through Patricia Eiyo-Elotu of the UN-World Food Programme. Patricia not only nominated the team, she also led the Climate Change workshop at the GWWI Women and Water Training held in Kamapala last July 2011.

Angella and Martha learned how to build a variety of different rainwater harvesting systems including capturing water from thatched roofs, ferro cement tank construction and how to repair and clean gutters.  On a field trip to Connect Africa, they saw the ISSB tank and new that this technology was the best option for their community situation. The ISSB (interlocking stabilized soil block) machine makes a special kind of brick that is composed simply of marram (earthen clay), sand, a little cement and water.  Because the blocks interlock, the structure is much more stable and requires less cement to bond them together. They went straight home, mobilized their community and built a rainwater harvesting tank for a local school!

At Moyo District’s Woman’s Day Celebration they offered a workshop that was attended by the Chairman of the District Council. They made bricks with the ISSB machine, promoted the bricks and offered a demo of the Biosand Filter! Angella and Martha are no stranger to recognition as they have won the Home and Environment Competition for three consecutive years! They have strong relationships with the community and its leaders and because of their transparency, they have developed a deep trust that will ensure that this program will succeed. 

Bravo ladies! We are behind you all the way!

[womenwater]

GWWI Women Making Waves: GWWI Graduates Launch the First Local Chapter of Global Women’s Water Initiative in Moyo, Uganda

SAVE THE DATE: Thurs, Oct 25 in Berkeley, CA “"Women Making Waves:GWWI Report Back from Africa”

Martha and Angella have been friends since they were young children. In 1979 during the Liberation War in Uganda, most people of Moyo, the town on the northernmost tip of Uganda, had to flee their homeland across the border of Sudan to safety. Angella and Martha’s families with their young children left with only their documents, no money and whatever belongings they could carry on their backs. They walked across the border into Sudan and lived as refugees in separate areas wherever they could find shelter.  After 8 years, during the resettlement they had a teary and bittersweet reunion when they returned to find that their town of Moyo had been completely destroyed. No houses or buildings anywhere.

As they restarted their lives back home, they were committed to help rebuild their community. They helped start the Marindi Cooperative Society, an organized group composed of women and men to carry out small scale credit and savings services to its members. 

Angella and Martha, as a retired nurse and midwife, respectively, wanted to provide more services to improve the health of their community.  In 2011, they were selected to participate in the GWWI Women and Water Training in Kampala, Uganda. When they learned about WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) and how to build WASH technologies, they knew that this was one way they could meet their goals. Because lack of access to water was a very big issue for Moyo citizens, they elected to learn how to build rainwater harvesting systems (RWH) with an ISSB tank (interlocking stabilized soil block) to provide water to their community.

When they brought the RWH technology back to Moyo, their organization was so impressed with it and their capacity to build it, they supported them to build a RWH system and tank at a local school serving over hundreds of students and some neighboring families. After seeing how easy it was to build and training other Moyo women to be able to construct the technology, the MCS chair helped the women members form a new organization called the Moyo Women’s Water Initiative (MWWI), inspired by the work of the Global Women’s Water Initiative.

The first order of business was to mobilize over $1200US from the community to buy an ISSB machine so they can make their own bricks, sell them and construct more tanks. The 30 women members of the MWWI have registered with the government and are now well on their way to realizing their collective dream!