We Did It!

That's right -- we reached our goal after only 6 weeks!  Of course, that was a few months ago, but just this week did we learn that our fundraising will not be used to build a well in Sierra Leone, but rather in Rwanda where there is more demand and available contractors.

To follow the status of our well, visit it's update page.

The We Dig Water team was recently featured in the Children Inspiring Hope blog.  CIH's Amy Gaylor visited our class several times, and her project with children in Ghana was a big part of why we chose to begin our well project.  Thanks, Amy!

Again, we cannot thank you enough for your generous donations!!

Daniel's isearch

Daniel S. isearch

What We Did-

A group of friends and I raised money to build a well in Sierra Leone. We built the well through a company called The Water Project. In order to build a well in Sierra Leone it would costs$4,500. So far we have raised over$4,000 by educating our friends relatives and strangers on the problem and then asking for donations. We also sold water balloons and cookies to people who we had told our mission to.

What I learned-

I learned a lot about the issue of water in not just Sierra Leone but all of Africa. Sometimes people have to walk up to ten miles just to get fresh water so that they don’t die of dehydration. Another problem is that the water they get is very unclean and carries many waterborne diseases. I learned about how bad the problem was and then, I wanted to help.

I also learned how fortunate I am to have such easy access to water and hospitals. When I am thirsty and want some water all I have to do is turn a faucet on and then I get clean water. When people in Africa need water they have to walk long distances and then don’t even get clean water. Even if I do get a waterborne illness, which would be unlikely, I could get easy access to a hospital and I would be fine after a short amount of time. People in Africa get small illnesses and sometimes die because they can’t get good enough care to help them recover.

As I learned more and more about the water issues in Africa I only wanted to help more. Then we got the opportunity to do an action project and I really wanted to help these people. The well will give a whole community access to water without having to walk very far. It is amazing how a group of fourteen year olds can help so many people.

Ben's iSearch

Doing this action project was very eye opening to me. I learned so much for instance, 1.5 million children die every year from waterborne illnesses, some people in Africa walk 3 miles each way to get water that normally isn’t even clean, and that children miss a ton of school from those diseases. Another thing that I learned about fundraising was that people want to donate to good causes like ours so us knowing our facts about it was super helpful. During this project I felt really guilty and proud of myself at the same time. I felt guilty, because I have all of the resources that none of the people in Sierra Leone have. I have running water, medicine, hospitals, etc. I also feel proud of myself at the same time, because of the amount of people I am going to be helping. The well serves over 250 people. Also, something else that I learned while doing this that made me proud was that every ten dollars gives a person clean drinking water for an entire year. So, the fact that we are going to raise 4500 dollars is really amazing. Although we have raised 4155 dollars, I do feel really bad. I feel this way, because besides the eighty dollars we raised on Earth Day we have not done anything to get the money besides sending the e-mails to family and friends. Saying that, I think that we are going to try and either do a bake sale or a low water car wash or something since I know that Leah and I, and most likely Ellery and Daniel, feel the same way that I do. Lastly, i am glad that we were able to do this project and I know that it will make a huge difference in peoples lives.

Almost There!

Hey, everybody!

First off, I'd like to be sure to thank everybody who has been so generous to our project.  This wouldn't be possible without you, so all of us on the We Dig Water team are so appreciative for you and your donations.  I'm sure the families in Sierra Leone are thankful, too.

However, the end of school is approaching quickly (June 3rd), and we still have about $600 to go!  For anybody who's reading this who hasn't donated, I'd be so happy if you could pitch in -- even just a couple bucks would be amazing.  Of course, if you've already donated but are feeling super generous, feel free to donate again!  We will be having either a bake sale or car wash (using a low amount of water) soon to raise some money, the details of which will be posted here on our blog for those who are interested.

We'd really like to put in a final little push to finish the project by the end of school, but, of course, we'd all be more than happy to continue our work into Summer if that's what it takes.

And again, thank you so much to everybody who has helped us make this project a success.  You have helped so much, and we cannot express our gratitude enough.

Earth Day Success!! And Thank-You's...

By selling home-made chocolate chip cookies, getting people to throw water balloons at Daniel, and asking for donation from the dozens of Paideians attending the Earth Day celebration, the four of us on the We Dig Water team ended up raising $80 for our water well funds!! This puts us at $1,320.. and only after one week! We are on the fast track toward the $4,500 dollars we need to fully fund a well in Sierra Leone! Absolutely none of this would be possible without your donations, which is why we would all like to say thank you to the following people for their generosity:

E Vaughn Dunnigan gave $50.00

Karmen Stephenson gave $20.00

Kelly Koelker gave $100.00

Cynthia Koelker gave $30.00

Sarah Hardy gave $100.00

Bob Wolfe gave $100.00

Janet Buntain gave $50.00

James Swartz gave $25.00

Becky Luce gave $50.00

Nancy Rafuse gave $100.00

Gabe Eisen gave $10.23

Susan Herron gave $200.00

Scott Baum gave $100.00

Claudia Levitas gave $100.00

Daniel Sperling gave $99.77

Paideia Project gave $80.00

Andrea Curcio gave $50.00

Mary Emma McConaughey gave $25.00

Leslie Wayne gave $30.00

One thousand thanks to all of you for helping us make this possible!!

Earth Day

This Friday, April 22nd, the four of us on the We Dig Water team will be hosting a booth at our school's Earth Day Fair.  We'll have baked goods for sale to earn money for our fundraiser, and we'll have activities with water such as water balloons.  Our first goal is to educate the students, parents, and others attending about the water crisis and what one can do to save water at home.  Please stop by this Friday at four o'clock!

We Dig Sierra Leone

After thorough research and careful decision making, the four of us have come to the conclusion that The Water Project will be the best organization for our action project.  We will raise $4,500 to fund a well in Sierra Leone, our country of choice, and it will provide clean, safe water to over 250 people.

Eager to begin our fundraising, we've contacted Krispy Kreme.  They offer a program that would allow us to purchase donuts from them for half price and sell them for retail price or higher.  Ben and Daniel are going to look into this with more detail this afternoon when they travel together to the Krispy Kreme on Ponce de Leon.

Another method of fundraising will be in the form of teeshirts and water bottles.  We've designed a shirt that will be printed soon, as will water bottles.  More details to follow.

For now, remember to visit our fundraising page and please donate!

Leah's iSearch

When Ellery, Ben, Daniel and I decided we wanted to build a well, we really didn’t think there would be too many organizations to choose from. But upon entering “building water wells” into Google, hundreds of results came up. Here are some of the sites that really stood out to me:

Ryan’s Well

Already having some background information on the foundation because of a recent project I did, the story of Ryan as a young boy doing chores and public speaking in order to raise money for wells in developing countries was not new. But I did learn about some of their projects and system of donations. For example, Ryan’s Well conducts community driven solutions, where students and community members plan and talk about ways to create new clean water and sanitation sources, which they raise money to create then see to the management of those sources. Ryan’s Well also educates children, youth, and women on the importance of clean water, they’re part of local partnerships, and scalable projects for future growth. You can easily donate by going on their web page: www.ryanswell.ca, and clicking the DONATE NOW button, where you can enter the amount you would like to contribute.

Nicaragua Water Wells

As you can probably tell from its name, the Nicaragua Water Well project has a mission to bring clean water and proper sanitation to the people of Nicaragua. The site, which can be found at www.tulsarotaryweb.com/Water/water.html, gives you a background on the foundation and how it came about: in 1996, Rotarian Bob Scroggs went to Nicaragua in efforts to build a medical clinic with his church mission group. He quickly realized the peoples lack of clean water and formed the beginning of an idea that wasn’t put into motion for three more years, when Scroggs talked to a water well driller and they decided to head down to Nicaragua and build wells. Several trips followed this one, including one in 2004 where they drilled 10 wells, providing safe water for 3,300 people, and later in 2005, where they drilled 15 wells and brought clean water to 2,500 Nicaraguans. Though I can’t find a donation page, I can tell that the mean and women involved in this project are very motivated and are slowly but surely making a change, and the website gives good ideas on how to help with the worlds growing water crisis.

World Concern

After Googling “clean water wells”, World concern was one of the first sites to pop up and I was able to find it at www.worldconcern.org/water. This organization, like many other clean water/well based organizations has a primary goal of fulfilling basic human needs and supplying people with clean drinking water. By digging fresh water wells by machine and hand, building rainwater runoff storage systems (systems that transport water from rooftops to larger tanks), and excavating ponds to collect rainwater (which benefit humans and animals), World concern is able to help out developing countries by giving them what every person needs: safe water. The website is big, clear, and full of information and ways to help, including a DONATE NOW page, that allows you to invest a certain amount of money in the building of wells monthly or one time. This foundation would definitely be something to look farther into for our well building project!

Daniel's iSearch

This is an organization that not only supplies wells but also works on helping orphans, helping communities rebuild after natural disasters and many other things. One of the bad things about this organization is that they try to “exemplify their Islamic beliefs” so they are not only focused on helping people they also try to convert them. Also it would be hard for us to build our own well and not just contribute to building one. Even if we supply enough money to build one well it still wouldn’t be considered the well that we built or our well.

site # 1

A spring of hope is a nonprofit public foundation that builds water wells in rural African schools to improve community health and to preserve lives. They are focused solely on building wells in schools in rural South Africa. They do not have very much flexibility around that subject. We would be limited to that country and to build one in a school instead of a community. They can help up start our own fundraising page so that we can keep track of donations. Also they have a documentary made to help us receive donations.

site # 2

This last organization is good because it is focusing on rebuilding water wells in Haiti. After the Earthquake and Tsunami Haiti has had lots of problems. With this you can help a whole village by sponsoring a well.

site # 3

Ben's iSearch

The African Well Fund
The African Well Fund is a non-profit organization that builds and maintains wells around Africa. Based in the United States. All donations go immediately to Africare, which is the leader in private organizations assisting Africa. The African Well Fund and Africare have helped over 35 African Countries.
http://www.africanwellfund.org/

Water Wells for Africa
Water Wells for Africa is a non-profit organization that works specifically in Malawi, Africa building and sustaining the wells. Each well serves 2000 people each day. They have built 100 wells in the last decade. The vision for this organization is to travel every summer to Malawi and fix the wells that have fallen apart.
http://www.waterwellsforafrica.org/

1008 Wells Foundation
This organization was made to develop wells in the rural parts of India and to maintain the condition of the wells that are already there. This organization is also a little religious so it may not work out. They are now partnered with the World Neighbors Organization which is also non-profit.
http://www.1008wells.org/about_1008wells.htm

Ellery's iSearch

We talked to Martha today about going through The Water Project to build a well, and some concerns about the organization were raised.  We don't know a lot about the foundation, and when we discovered it, we hadn't looked around for other possible organizations.

The google result for "build a well in africa" brought up several possibilities.  One was a personal blog of somebody named Susan who advocated donating to build wells in Africa through an organization called Charity Water.  This organization says boldly on the top of its front page, "100% of your donation goes directly to the field.  A separate group of private donors fund the operating costs so you don't have to."  At least this way, we'd know exactly where the money is going.  Another upside might be that it costs $5,000 dollars to sponsor a well rather than the $6,500 The Water Project needs.  Such a donation would allow a well to be built in a village where it cold serve 250 or more people.  There is also an option for $20,000 that could bring water to over a thousand people through a school or health clinic.  Through Charity Water, there is myCharity, where we could set up a personal fundraising page.  In 12 to 18 months, we could see the progress of our individual well through photos and videos.  One downside is that this is a very big organization -- bigger than The Water Project -- and our donation would be pretty small compared to a lot of corporate donations and the like.

I found another organization called A Drop in the Bucket, but it seems to be unorganized and pretty small.  Like the other organizations, it allows its users to crete a fundraising page of their own, however, of what I've seen, this has not brought much success.  There may be something to be said for going through a smaller organization, but I wouldn't say this is the one.

Lastly, I found H2O Africa, an organization founded by Matt Damon.  Their goal is to raise awarness of the situation of the water crisis in Africa through education.  They have many opportunities to give money to other groups' projects, but there are no options for individuals to sponsor a well of their own.  Personally, I would like to make a well to call our own, so I'd say no to this organization.  

Getting Started

To get started, we outlined the plans for our action project.

As we’ve researched in our studies through Children Inspiring Hope, the water crisis facing the world today is a globally economic and social problem. Nearly a billion people lack access to clean, potable water – that’s one in every eight people on the planet. Not only is water unclean, but members of rural communities must walk dozens of miles to collect it. Millions die each year due to waterborne illnesses, including 1.5 million children under the age of 5.

Living in the United States, we tend to take advantage of the water in our lives – every time we need to drink, bathe, or even play, we turn on a faucet. We water our flowers and clean our cars, consuming hundreds of gallons, without realizing how fortunate we are to have such bountiful access to water. Much of the world’s water crisis comes from lack of infrastructure – a simple well could bring water to a thousand people. Wells can take clean, natural water from the earth and supply it to members of a rural community.

Each member of our group feels very strongly about bringing water to people who lack its essential benefits. Imagining a world without water, from a morning shower to brushing our teeth at night, creates a very dire image. And it’s not just a matter of being clean or comfortable – it’s a matter of life or death. So many people die unnecessarily because they don’t have the infrastructure to have safe water. 80% of sicknesses in third world countries could be prevented if they all have access to clean water. We believe everyone deserves the right to water, so we will do our best to bring that privilege to communities in need.

There is a foundation – The Water Project, Inc. – where we can sponsor a well that can bring fresh water to between 500 and 1,000 people. To pay for an entire well and the preparation, training, and instruction of the community would cost $6,500. That number may be unrealistic, but it’s our goal. There is way to set up a fundraising page through The Water Project, and there, people (anybody who we know and wants to do so) can donate money to our specific cause. It costs only $10 to supply one person water for an entire year when the total $6,500 is divided.

We understand that $6,500 is a lot of money for three fourteen year olds to accumulate, but we’re prepared to fundraise. In addition to educating family and friends via email (and asking them to donate to our fundraiser page), we’ll have merchandise sales. Some of the ideas we’ve talked about are (our own designed) reusable grocery bags, coupon books, bake sales, custom water bottles, and perhaps a night where we will have fun games, dinner, and a chance to educate people about the water crisis.


HOW WE (MIGHT) EDUCATE ABOUT THE WATER CRISIS:

-Make a video that we can post on youtube and send around the link

-Make a PowerPoint

-Talk to people (at school, in neighborhoods, etc.)

Another idea we’ve thought about is that, in addition to raising the money to build a well, we can try to make some sort of donation to kids in Africa. Perhaps this could be some soccer balls or bears/dolls. We may be able to ask the Atlanta Silverbacks or somebody like Sports Authority to sponsor us for some soccer balls.