Children of Honduras need your help

“The teacher was thrilled with the results and now teachers in other schools are asking how they can get a pump for their school. At last I have found the best avenue for providing clean water for the children. Some of the churches that I work through do not have the reality of their children drinking dirty water as they personally can afford bottled water. The school teachers however see and have to deal with the effects of bad water on a daily basis with children missing school or being ill at school. The schools and clinics will be the places where we will locate the pumps first in 2012.”

- Jennifer, Children of Honduras Trust

Could you help?

• with this or other projects, please sponsor an Aquafilter
• many other ways you can get involved, please contact us
• make it your school charity project?

To get our Appeal Poster, please click here,  Children of Honduras Appeal

“On Wednesday 25th January 2012, the pioneer of the Aquafilter, Mr .John Griffith together with Gill Griffith and Robert Roy, made a presentation about the innovation and concept behind the user friendly water filters to students, staff from the Faculty of engineering and invitees from the public and civil society. The dean of the Faculty Dr.Leopold MBEREYAHO also attended the function.”   -  KIST   http://www.kist.ac.rw/index.php/news/299-aquafilter-pioneer-makes-a-presentation-at-kist

“Here is the very first Aquafilter in use in Bangladesh. From green-tinged pond water to a sparkling clear and refreshing drink. Life restoring. Rotary the World Over!!!”

We’ve just received the latest news from Terry and Carole Elliott, rotarians both, who recently embarked on another visit to the clinic which their charity, the Wear Surma Clinic, sponsors in Bangladesh. The project is located in Boroudha village, Beanibazar, Sylhet, where the ground water often contains arsenic, forcing the villagers to drink surface water from  ponds and streams.

The Safe Water Trust team has just posted our first inhouse Video on Youtube and here is the link to see it for yourself – just click here to play it.

When one of our partner NGOs asked for a video of the Aquafilters to help explain how they work to  colleagues in their field offices, we didn’t realise what we were letting ourselves in for.

The process was much more difficult than we anticipated, but now that it’s done the end result is there for all to see.

We know that we’re not professional Video-makers but please have a look and let us know what you think of the Video. We would welcome your comments.

Barnard Castle Rotary Club have been fund raising over the Christmas period and demonstrating how Aquafilters work to the general public.

Rotarian Robert Hartness has been turning samples of dirty water from the riverTees into clean drinking water and he says the response from the public has been “amazing”.

To read the full article in the Teesdale Mercury click here.

Welcome

In this newsletter we are delighted to welcome you to our new website:  www.safewatertrust.com and to our new facebook page: Aquafilter (places not groups). Both of these mean we can keep everyone up to date about projects and developments. Our website has a map which allows sponsors to track their filters and see photos of their filters in use.

Registered Charity

We now have registered charity status and in the next few weeks we will be sending the relevant donors Gift Aid forms so we can claim Gift Aid on your donations.

International Exhibition: Aidex

In October John and I shared a stand with Aquabox at the International Aid Exhibition in Brussels. It was an interesting and successful event. We had meaningful discussions with a range of Aid Organisations, and we are now following these up.

Community Aquafilters

Thanks to an increased number of volunteers we are now assembling Community Aquafilters in our free factory space on both Tuesdays and Wednesdays, resulting in a production of around 24 filters a month. The majority of these go to Aquabox, where they are stored in their warehouse in Derbyshire ready to send to emergencies. Details of recent shipments can be seen on their website www.aquabox.org/intro.asp

Family Aquafilters

The two sites making Family Aquafilters are now firmly established.  Harry’s Farm, near Darlington, a Charity involved in supporting vulnerable adults, is producing, on average,

50 Family Aquafilters per month. Some are bought by Aquabox and some are sponsored by donors for immediate use in the field. The other site, at Aquabox in Derbyshire, has made over 1,000 filters and now an Aquafilter is included in each Aquabox, instead of chlorine tablets.

Gambia

Our first Community Aquafilters have been providing clean water in Gambia for nearly 5 years. We continue to get positive feedback from our two test sites, one with 20 Community Aquafilters and one with 65 Family Aquafilters. We are monitoring not only the filters but also the health of the users. A big thank you to David and Tina Rawson of Aquabox and also to Moslem Aid Gambia who are helping us with this project.

Ghana

We have sent another four Community Aquafilters and Family Aquafilters to Mpraeso, Ghana. A returning volunteer, David Searle has sponsored 3 more Community Aquafilters for the many villages that drink the water from the Volta Lake. Mandy O’Mahony, a volunteer returning for her second visit is taking 2 Community Aquafilters and 2 Family Aquafilters (and very few clothes!) at the beginning of January. Thank you Mandy for starting your volunteering by enabling over 1000 people to have clean water.

Can anyone else help by taking an Aquafilter to Mpraeso as part of your luggage? 

Kenya

Our involvement with The Kenya Acorn Project is now complete. The schools and clinics supported by this project now have safe drinking water, improved toilets and basic hand washing facilities. Nurses from Northumbria University pay regular visits and have been monitoring the health of the children before and after the Aquafilters were provided. We will post the results on our website. A big thank you must go to Ipswich Rotary Club.

The 10 Community Aquafilters sent to Mbita in Kenya through Development Direct have been distributed and are working well. Our thanks go to Stokesley Rotary Club. Thank you also to Ben Pearson who took the first Aquafilter out and has since raised funds for 2 more Aquafilters.

Honduras

Through Aquabox we have been asked to supply 300 Family Aquafilters to be sent to Honduras in March for the Charity ‘Children of Honduras’. The filters will be distributed to small hamlets where chlorine tablets are currently used.

Below is an extract from a letter from the Children of Honduras Trust.

The first Family Aquafilter  is being used in a Primary school with 80 pupils.

 “It will be a good test case to see what the family aqua pump will do. We had little choice, we had one family pump and a school of 80 children with polluted water. The teacher was thrilled with the results and now teachers in other schools are asking how they can get a pump for their school. At last I have found the best avenue for providing clean water for the children. Some of the churches that I work through do not have the reality of their children drinking dirty water as they personally can afford bottled water. The school teachers however see and have to deal with the effects of bad water on a daily basis with children missing school or being ill at school”.

The Children of Honduras Charity has been looking for years for a practicable and lasting solution for clean water.

A donation of £20 will sponsor an Aquafilter Family for a school or clinic in Honduras.

Uganda

At Aidex we met with 2 volunteers from Just Care, a small Charity working in Uganda. We have just sent them a Community Aquafilter and a Family Aquafilter for them to take to Uganda on their next visit. We hope this is the beginning of another successful collaboration.

Rwanda

Over the past few months we have been increasingly involved with 2 Charities working in Rwanda, the Littlestone Trust and The Gaboko Trust. Both Charities are using Aquafilters.

In January we will be travelling to Rwanda with the Littlestone Trust who are arranging meetings with NGOs and Government Officials.

Donations are needed so the group can take as many Aquafilters as possible as part of their luggage.

Thank you all for your help and support.

With Christmas Greetings and Best Wishes for 2012.

John and Gill

e-mail gill@safewatertrust.com                  Tel. +44 (0) 191 536 3851

World Bank special envoy on climate change Andrew Steer emphasised that climate change was about poverty reduction.

“Developing countries will bear three quarters of the negative impact of changing weather patterns, water shortages, and rising sea levels, and they are the least equipped to deal with them. Hard won gains in poverty reduction are at serious risk. This is no longer just tomorrow’s problem. Impacts are being felt today,” he said.

To read Eleanor’s article in full, click on the following link

http://www.sundaytribune.co.za/changing-climate-puts-development-goals-at-risk-1.1193729

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“Last week, Danica May Camacho of the Philippines became the world’s symbolic seven billionth person. The occasion drew mixed feelings in the policy world — what does a booming global population mean for climate risks? To cite one issue, leaders are worried about the declining supply of water in regions vital to economic growth.”

Whilst the rate of global population growth is concentrated in developing countries, the implications of growth are not merely a problem for developing areas. To read the article in full, please click here.