#giveupacup to Provide a Child with Clean Water for 10 Years

This Christmas season, we have a fantastic opportunity for YOU to help out a child in need. 

We have partnered with Erin, the blogger from South to Southwest, to create the #giveupacup challenge. For the price of one cup of coffee or hot chocolate, you can provide a child in a developing country with clean water for 10 years! 

Here's the challenge:

1. Give up one cup of store-bought coffee or hot chocolate this month

2. Donate $4 (just $4!) to WHOlives.org 

3. BONUS POINTS: post to Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram with the hashtag #giveupacup 

After donating to WHOlives.org, head over to Erin's blog to enter to win an adorable handmade mug:

http://southtosouthwest.com/give-cup-challenge/

Modification to the Village Drill promises to bring water to communities previously neglected

Driller use new Village Drill rock penetrating technology.

We just returned from a trip to Kenya in which we tested new Village Drill technology that will allow drillers to drill through hard rock in areas previously considered too difficult to drill.

This is huge as it promises to increase access to clean water for communities in need that have historically been neglected due to the difficulty of developing wells cost effectively.

Worker at the Village Drill manufacturing site in Kenya

The technology only furthers the Village Drill as the clear choice for well development in in areas of need.

After working with engineers in the US and with the Village Drill manufactures in Mombasa, Kenya we were able to test a prototype.

As soon as we had it in the field, it became clear that the technology was performing beyond expectations. After a successful test in the field, we look forward to further modifying the initial design to increase its performance even further.

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

-Leonardo DaVinci

Orthodontist starts a ripple effect: brings clean water to all-girls school in Kenya

For schoolgirls in Cherangani, Kenya water is always on their minds. Many schoolgirls spend hours a week, if not daily, seeking out water for themselves, their families and their school. The tragedy is despite the enormous burden of time spent fetching the water; it is often dirty and dangerous for consumption. 

Furthermore, due to the amount of time spent seeking water, these girls forfeit time that could be spent studying, working or enjoying life as kids should.

Thanks to the generosity of Horsley Orthodontics, the girls at the school can now rest assured that they will have access to clean, safe water right at the school.  

After hearing about the need for water in these areas, Horsley Orthodontics was determined to find a way to help. Working with WHOlives and the Village Drill, Horsley Orthodontics donated the well that now services this school and community. As a result, hundreds of girls can now spend more time studying, playing and not worrying about illness associated with dirty, contaminated water. 

Start your own ripple effect today! Contact us to find out how you can make a difference.

One Family's Ripple Effect

Shout out to the Sorenson Family

Two years ago Todd and Holly Sorenson decided that they wanted to do what they could to help. Their family’s service came in the form of monthly donations to WHOlives’ ripple effect campaign. So far the Sorenson’s contributions have given water to over 300 East African children in need.

Todd believes that, “Very few things are as worthwhile” as what their gift is accomplishing.  Giving clean water to families not only improves overall health, it also opens up new opportunities for these communities.

Children are now able to spend their time in school, instead of traveling miles each day to find dirty water.

                                                  

Families are now able to invest their money in new businesses and higher standards of living, rather than on hospital bills.

We’d like to thank the Sorenson’s for their selfless contribution. The clean water they have created is not only saving lives, but also generating ripple effects throughout those communities.

How a family vacation ending up saving and improving thousands of lives.

When Dr. Barker and his wife Heidi were looking for a family trip recently, they decided to do something a little less conventional. Having already donated a Village Drill rig to Kenya which has helped thousands of school kids get clean water, they decided to go on a WHOlives expedition, "We were looking for an experience that could show our children a different perspective on life and demonstrate the simplicity in which a vast majority of the world’s population lives."

Dr. Barker, an orthopedic surgeon in Everett Washington, spent two years living in Zimbabwe and South Africa as a missionary in the mid-eighties and is well aware of the stark contrast between the quality of life for most Americans and those who live in developing areas of the world and wanted his children to have a similar experience.

The Barkers took their 3 children with them,  Max 16, Gretchen 14 and Sofia 8 and family friend Steven19.

 When asked about some of the highlights from their trip Dr. Barker mentioned, "Just seeing the women draw dirty water from watering holes shared by wild animals, to having an opportunity to spend one-on-one time with orphaned elephants at a refuge park." In all, the Barkers and their children had a once in a lifetime experience that instilled in them a deeper gratitude and greater empathy for those living in poverty.

WHOlives is grateful that the world still has people like Barkers who are selfless and conscientious, and whose generosity has brought clean water, improved health and new opportunity to several thousand people and counting. 

Clean water brought to over 15,000 people!

Meet Terri Greenly, Cofounder of Water4

As co-owners of Pumps of Oklahoma, Terri and her husband Richard were in the water business long before starting a nonprofit. Originally they did charitable water projects on their own, they never expecting to start Water4.  In 2005 Richard had an opportunity to travel to China and install a solar pump for a community in need. Following this formative experience Richard and Terri decided they needed to work towards solving the world water crisis.

            
Terri believes in helping others the same way she would want to be helped. Instead of swooping in solving other’s problems she believes in empowering others. She believes that mentoring, teaching, and helping people discover their own solutions, is the best way to assist those in need. Terri, and Water4 are working on finding long-term solutions to long-term issues that the world is facing.

            

Terri knows firsthand what water can do. Her great grandmother drew a 160-acre plot of land in the Oklahoma land-run, that had no water source. Her great grandmother was able to drill a well and go from scraping by to thriving. Terri remembers using her great grandmother’s hand pump as a child, and how difficult it was to use. This experience caused her to realize that their revolutionary Water4 pumps must be child friendly, in order to benefit the entire community. 

Using the Village Drill, we at WHOlives.org have been able to install 15 wells using the water4 pump system, bringing clean water to over 15,000 people. 

Water4 believes in using whatever talents people desire to share. They have a musical ambassador who serenades people for fundraising, and a FedEx worker who joined on and helps with their shipping. If you think you have a talent to add to Water4 check out what they have going on at water4.org.

One WELL of a year!

One WELL of a year!

The 2013 Journey reminded me of a long hike up a steep mountain trail.  Every step arduous, the pace seemed too slow, you wonder if any progress was really being made and if the journey was really worth it.  Two steps forward one step back. Yet at the same time, in the middle of the journey, when you stop and look back, you are suddenly amazed at how far you have actually come. Your perspective is totally changed as you look up from the trail and now look out to beautiful vistas.  The valley where you started seems far away and you seem closer than ever to your goal. You are reenergized, ready to look back down to the trail and start marching on again to new heights. 

In my opinion, one of the best things to come out of the 2013 journey was the consistent performance of the Village Drill and to see the Drill set a new standard for manual bore hole drilling.  The Village Drill has set new records for both speed and depth.  A good example of that was in Zambia where our trainers and the Zambian village crew drilled 8 successful boreholes in just 10 days.  The boreholes ranged in depth from 30 meters (90 ft.) to 63 meters (190 feet) deep.  To help get a sense of how deep that really is, just imagine drilling down by hand the height of a 19 story building.

However, as impressive as these numbers appear, they are not the story.  The story is in the people whose lives are being saved and improved upon because of the success of the Village Drill. This was made possible by all of you.  The story is the girl who can now go to school because instead of having to walk 6 km (4mi) to fetch contaminated water for her family every day, there is now a well at her school.  She can now go to school all day and then return home in the evening with clean, pure, drinkable water.  The story is the farmer who was about to be decimated by drought but can now irrigate his small crop and feed his family because of a nearby well that was installed.  The story is the mother who doesn't have to bury one of her children this year, because the open water pit that was a breading ground for malaria has been replaced by a clean borehole pump. They are more healthy and no longer live in fear of dying from malaria or dehydration caused by diarrhea.  

So as we look back on 2013 we see WHOlives.org and the Village Drill are just beginning their journey to helping to save and improve millions of lives.  We are now active in 7 different countries in Eastern Africa and have committed plans to be in Western Africa and South America during 2014, and in Asia by early 2015. But none of this could be possible if it were not for our selfless donors our incredible staff and the committed business members who continue to support our efforts in bringing life saving water and opportunity to those that need it most.  I want to give a huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to the work that has been done.  It is a collective effort by all, and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.  We love and appreciate you all.

Thanks,

John Renouard 

President WHOlives/Village Drill