November 2011 Archives

Nine years ago, I joined a group of committed people who were forming the African Well Fund because they believed as did I that clean water is every person's basic human right.

I've learned a lot in the last nine years, but one of the most important things I have learned in the importance of clean water AND sanitation. Both are key to saving lives - one without the other makes no sense at all. That's why most of the projects we fund work to improve sanitation as well as access to clean water.

Tomorrow is World Toilet Day. World Toilet Day was created by the World Toilet Organization in 2001 to raise global awareness of the struggle 2.6 billion face every day without access to proper, clean sanitation.

There are lots of imaginative campaigns designed to raise awareness about this decidedly unglamorous topic. One of which is Matt Damon's  Talk Sh*t for Global Sanitation Awareness

All the sites listed above have suggestions for 'celebrating' World Toilet Day.

 If you would like to know more about the improved sanitation component of our projects, just take a look at one of our reports on our project page.

I'm just back from Africare's annual Bishop John T. Walker dinner in Washington D.C.

It's such a great energizing event that I have been lucky to be able to attend for the last 9 years!

Last year was particularly exciting as Africare President Darius Mans announced our new partnership with Angelique Kidjo's Batonga Foundation to provide water and sanitation at schools in Benin. You can view his announcement here.

This year we found out that the project which was funded in part by this year's Bono birthday well campaign has broken ground and is underway. We are very excited and will keep you all posted with news as the project progresses.

We'll also be posting more reports from this year's dinner, updates on other projects in progress and new proposals to fund.

Speaking of Batonga, they are currently competing in the Girl Effect challenge and have the chance to be featured on GlobalGiving's Girl Effect fundraising page for one year. Batonga works to help keep girls in school.  When girls are educated and empowered, the effect is transformative. They are more likely to marry later, have fewer children, protect themselves against disease, generate more income, and help to boost the economy of their community.

Please take a moment and check out their  challenge page today!