Once we determine if the climate and conditions will support a sustainable source of water, we find the local leaders of the communities that help us get to the schools most in need. We look for schools with over a hundred students. Once we have this initial assessment, we make a trip to visit each potential project location.

Long rough road in Masaka, Uganda between schools

Dennis and Julius – Assessing Itindero Senior Secondary School – Mbarara, Uganda

This is the part that takes a lot of time. We travel constantly when we are assessing, rarely stopping on the road except when needed (or the always stopped at equator sign). Ten to twelve hours in the back of an SUV, we usually drive up to the location and get out with notebooks, calculators, iPhones (for GPS and elevation) pencil and measuring tapes. Scrambling to find reasonably sturdy items to stand on while measure, we measure and call out numbers, survey the building surroundings and quickly sketch a site map.

Dave, Dennis, Fred and Francis assessing Bulenge Muslim Primary School – Masaka, Uganda

Dave getting roof elevation thanks to an iPhone with Fred and Dennis at Kirinda School – Masaka, Uganda

Martha getting GPS coordinates with Dennis measuring at St. Sebastiane Makukuulu Primary School – Masaka, Uganda

A visit to the headmaster or headmistress to verify the pupil count and to get their phone number and it is off again. As we drive to the next location, we are busy taking notes, discussing special needs and getting ready for the next stop. Sometimes we have to stop for a minor repair too!

Fred, Dennis and Francis tending to a minor bumper repair on the road in Masaka, Uganda

Team RainCatcher – David Zielski, Martha McBride, Dennis Ssebuggwawo and Fred Mango

In the end, this is vital information for us to get to our implementation partners – the more detailed we can be in the beginning, the more accurate costing we can get and the better reporting we can give to our donors. But, in the end, its all about getting these kids clean water!

Kids at their school that will be getting clean water in Mbarara, Uganda

But, with RainCatcher, it’s not just dropping off filters and tanks and presuming our job is complete. In many situations, we encounter habits, traditions and some justifiable skepticism. This is why strong relationships with community leaders and continued monitoring are so crucial.

That HIV has had a devastating impact in Africa is not news, but it can be easy to forget what that looks like, day-to-day, in villages across the continent.

In the serendipitous way they sometimes do, a couple of the filters we’d donated in a community halfway across the country had made their way into a small area near Masaka via a small grassroots aid organization focused on serving orphans, CBIRD.
The director, Jude Muleke, was eager to meet us during our brief visit to Masaka town in February and had contacted us via our partner Sula, who’d been helping bring portable clean-water systems to villages around Mbale. Sula had passed along the filters that were in use now, unbeknownst to RainCatcher, just a couple miles from the hotel where we were staying.

Jude wanted to both express gratitude and request our assistance in helping a woman he knew. We scrambled to fit in this unexpected visit as soon as we heard her story.

Resty had taken in five of her young relatives who’d been orphaned when their parents succumbed to AIDS. She was the sole relative and sole support for her five young charges and her own child, all younger than 12. She’d come to the attention of Jude because a couple of the orphans were being sponsored at their school by CBIRD.

He wanted us to meet her, because not only was she single-handedly keeping these kids out of an orphanage and off the street, but she is HIV positive. Jude had given her a filter, because, though Resty had gained access to medication, she was still quite weak, needed clean water to take her pills, and he wanted her to be able to leave the girls in school, rather than pulling them out to haul water and boil it for her.

The day we met her at her home, she brought out her bucket with the attached filter and proudly explained that she had boiled the water and was now going to filter it for us! Jude gave us a knowing look and we instantly understood the primary reason he wanted us to visit and visit TODAY. Resty needed a thorough demonstration of how the filter really worked and that she didn’t need to waster her limited resources “double treating” the water.
We sprung into action. Dennis, RainCatcher’s Uganda Country Director, conducted an impromptu filter demonstration in one of their shared languages so there would be no misunderstanding. Dennis and Fred, RainCatcher’s best teachers, trained the CBIRD reps on-the-fly and a crowd gathered on the road in front of Resty’s house, watching from a distance.
As the unexpected demonstration on the lawn progressed, curious passersby moved in closer. Boys on their way back from a dirty water source about a mile away, pushing bikes weighed down by heavy yellow jerry cans, stopped, transfixed.
The curious weren’t necessarily brave enough to try the filtered water, though. Dennis drank some. Then the American RainCatchers drank some. Then Resty. Then a brave volunteer from the crowd stepped up, leaving the other spectators to murmur and express their disbelief and disapproval. Though the courageous water sipper was the only “risk taker” in the moment, the crowd remained.

After saying goodbye to Resty and making further arrangements with CBIRD, we rushed off to our previously scheduled obligations. We were feeling really fortunate to have a partner like Jude in Masaka and looked forward to maybe meeting with him on our next visit to see what could be done next.

The very next day, Jude called to share the great news: Word of Resty’s magic filter had spread through that small neighborhood like wildfire and requests for demonstrations had been passed along to Jude.

Thrilled by the progress he’d instigated, Jude had already made plans to go back with more filters and demonstrate for a more receptive crowd, getting tools for safe clean water into more hands.

Julius Ananura, the Executive Director of Reach the Un-Reached Ministries and a RainCatcher partner, has devoted his ministry to helping marginalized groups and vulnerable populations in Western Uganda.

Homer and Julius Ananura

Though Julius is has moved on to the capital city of Kampala, with a lovely wife, an adorable daughter, a modern home and a vehicle of his own, he is a man with much of his heart still in the villages surrounding Mbarara.

In Kampala, Julius runs an orphanage with a little more than a dozen children, but when duty calls, he will jump on a bus to travel four hours to make sure the schools, churches and clinics he’s made commitments to will be fairly and swiftly evaluated by RainCatcher.

The day of our visit to Kabwohe Health Center was, in fact, the third RainCatcher-requested tour of these 10 sites that Julius had made possible. Without him, we would never have been able to find them all, as scattered as they are in remote villages, down winding red-clay paths and hidden in banana groves.

Though all of his project sites are using RainCatcher’s portable clean-water systems, filtering water and making it safe to drink, each site has also waited patiently for this, the construction phase of the projects that promise to make access to water reliable and on-site. They’ve anticipated the day when the need for long walks to haul heavy cans of water can be reduced or eliminated.

As we arrived at the clinic, the sun was beating down and the team was a little giddy with the idea that it was only 1 pm and we only had one more site visit for the day. There were high fives all around and bragging rights when we got back home.

As we measured the clinic and Dave and Dennis ran the numbers and recorded installation instructions for the system, we were quite aware of the dozens of people laying around the grounds for their long waits for a possible opportunity to be seen by medical personnel.

There were sick kids, laying by their moms on mats under trees. There was even a snack hut with a brisk business selling unrefrigerated sodas, bananas, corn and nuts. Made sense: according to Julius some of these people would wait on the lawn all day and not be seen by anyone. Snacks would be required.

The biggest concern, according to the head nurse, Sister Beatrice, was the mothers and babies. The maternity ward was in crisis. The placement of this tank was crucial, because the mothers or their families needed to help provide water; there wasn’t enough of a supply to support both the surgical unit AND the maternity ward. Many mothers and babies die there for a variety of reasons, but the lack of clean water was one deadly factor was one that we could help alleviate.

It was then that Julius turned to Sister Beatrice and their conversation led to a revelation: Julius had been born in that very maternity ward almost 40 years ago – same building and apparently same dire situation. And Sister Beatrice had started working at the hospital as a young woman not long after Julius had made his debut there.

The whole group looked over. Standing there was this nun who had dedicated her life to responding to a never-ending sea of people seeking medical attention in an under-staffed, woefully equipped medical facility and a man whose journey of generous service to the most under-served people in his home community had started on that very site.

It was a moment that reminded us of the big job ahead and who really deserved the high fives and bragging rights. And a gift of awareness of the wonderful ways paths can be intertwined and that we’re all just one small part of bigger efforts and mere contributors to larger solutions.

The burden of collecting water falls on everyone, but in a family with the option, it becomes primarily a responsibility of the girls.

As we drove through Masaka, visiting schools we’d be equipping with rainwater harvesting, we came across this particular group of beautiful, vibrant teen girls.

We stopped for a moment to visit with them and take photos. They laughed and teased each other and we joked with them.

Driving on, our Ugandan partners pointed out that these girls could benefit from the tanks we were putting in at the schools nearby and might not have to miss as much school due to their families water needs.

That realization made us so grateful. Because, although Africa itself has captured our hearts, it is the experience of making a personal impact that drives our pursuit of opportunities to expand our reach.

Knowing that our recent projects might help these girls directly – and would definitely help other girls, girls we hadn’t even met yet – made it a little easier for us to keep driving.

Facts on Water
For a family of six, collecting enough water for drinking, cooking and basic hygiene may mean hauling heavy water containers from a distant source for an average of three hours a day. Women and girls are mainly responsible for fetching the water that their families need for drinking, bathing, cooking and other household uses. (Source: WHO/UNICEF)

There are many heroes working behind the scenes for RainCatcher. These heroes work hard every day to provide children clean drinking water. Today we honor Sylvia Bofry, Director of the Kyempapu school district. Without Sylvia our current project in Uganda would not be moving forward and many previous projects would not have occurred.

Want to thank Sylvia yourself? Post a few words of gratitude in the comments below!

The teacher Ssebandeko Charles was very excited to learn how soon they’ll receive their tank from RainCatcher and he shared stories of the many of his students who had perished from the water-borne illnesses that plagued so many. In a short amount of time, the kids would no longer have to make the long walk witnessed as the team drove in to the community. In a short amount of time, kids would no longer miss school or worse due to water-borne disease. In a short amount of time, the entire community would be able to live a healthy and prosperous life… a life beyond the burden and dangers of water collecting.

While back in the states, the team often discussed the statistics regarding the 3 mile average walks for water. Despite their previous knowledge and field experience, the sight of the small children, most of them young girls, was still saddening. It proved as an instant reminder for why they commit themselves to the journey in the first place. 

The problem is known as the world water crisis and it claims 6,000 lives each day. Ninety percent of those deaths, are children younger than five years old. Despite the enormity of the world water crisis, RainCatcher.org’s innovative solutions may also make it one of the most solvable of all humanitarian efforts.

By combining modern technology with proven ancient techniques, RainCatcher.org is able to protect and provide hope for the most vulnerable citizens of high-risk communities. The children.

Focused on creating a chance at life and education for the children, donations to RainCatcher.org directly fund the installation of sustainable clean water solutions at children’s schools in Africa.

Having provided water for over 21 schools and 600,000 people to date, donations made from your wine purchase today will directly fund the development of clean water systems at 26 children’s schools in 2013.

Here’s how you can help:

To purchase a bottle of your favorite wine and protect children in Africa at risk, CLICK HERE

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Bwaise is one of the big slums in the outskirts of Kampala City. Bwaise is bordered by Kawempe to the north, Kyebando to the east, Mulago to the southeast, Makerere to the south and Kasubi to the southwest. This location is approximately 5 kilometres (3.1 mi), by road, north of Kampala’s central business district.[1] The coordinates of Bwaise are:00 21 00N, 32 33 40E (Latitude:0.3500; Longitude:32.5610).

Due to human encroachment on the wetlands that used to drain through the neighborhood, Bwaise is today prone to flooding and is not well connected to National water. 79% of the people suffer from water borne related diseases.

By providing a water filter, these 300 people can now dink clean safe water.

This filter will filter out any harmful bacteria that is in their water source.

Now they can enjoy clean water.

The whole community has access to clean water now.

In 2011, RainCatcher visited and donated portable clean-water systems with filters and returned twice over the following year to get to know the teachers and the students as they waited for their tank. This visit was one marked by dancing, laughing and an atmosphere of celebration. They have the tank! It’s like adding productive hours to each school day.

Celebration at St. Mbuga Lugazi Primary School

Click here to give the gift of clean water.

The most important piece of luggage will be the 100 clean water filters we are bringing over courtesy of the “Foundation for I AM” and the generosity of Tom Shadyac. These filters will provide 10,000 people clean water. The Foundation for I AM also provided the funds needed to complete 8 rainwater harvesting systems in Mityana and will be providing a sustainable source of clean drinking water to this region.

On the trip, we will be visiting Masaka, Mityana, Jinja and Mbale. We will be evaluating new rainwater harvesting proposed locations as well as visiting remote villages and slums to deliver clean water filters that will keep the people healthy, especially the kids.

We want to thank Le Lycee Francais de Los Angeles, Caroline Olson and her class mates for stepping up and making a difference in this world.

If your school wants to fund raise for clean water, please contact us. Click Here and fill out the contact form.

Being a man of his word and demonstrating his passion to make a difference, Dr. Cheng reached his first goal a little over a week ago. Yesterday, David and Dr. Cheng met for the first time at Beachbody Headquarters to follow through on their pledge and get a clean shave for clean water.

Here are a few pics of the action. [Video coming soon]

To date, Dr. Mark Chengs fundraising efforts will provide literally hundreds of millions of gallons of clean water to those in need though he is not slowing down anytime soon. Click here to support Dr. Cheng in his pursuit of his next fundraising goal.

On a gloriously sunny day in Topanga, we were fortunate enough to have stumbled upon David Zielski of RainCatcher while selling handcrafted jewelry on behalf of SEE at an Earth Day festival. David kindly ushered us over to his booth and gave us a quick filter demonstration: light bulbs went off! We were in utter awe of the ease and simplicity of the contraption, and immediately thought about the water situation in Haiti and the effects these filters could have in the camps, schools, and communities. Unlike sporadic water packet dispersal, these filters last years on end and can sustain massive populations, trapping tiny pathogens including cholera. With Haiti’s tropical weather and rain patterns, we saw huge opportunities for rainwater harvesting. David’s passion was contagious and we were overjoyed by his willingness to forge a partnership. In alignment with our views on sustainability, RainCatcher’s mission and vision were entirely inspiring. We were lucky enough to have him donate 5 filters to bring down and distribute!

On June 30, SEE set off on our inaugural trip to Haiti, where we spent 8 days meeting with various grassroots organizations, school directors, women’s groups, and community leaders to assess the current situation in Haiti and discuss ways to go about supporting these individuals in solidarity. We also set out to deliver medical supplies, funds, RainCatcher filters, and to survey potential rainwater harvesting structures.

What is the water situation in Haiti?

Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere where close to 70 percent of its population lacks direct access to potable water. Infectious diarrhea, usually caused by drinking contaminated drinking water, is one of the country’s leading causes of death.

After the devastating 2010 earthquake, Haiti took yet another fatal blow when the cholera outbreak hit later the same year. By March 2012, cholera had killed over 7,000 Haitians and had sickened over 530,000. Although increased awareness has somewhat lessened the potential for new cases to arise, limited government intervention has provided few safe alternatives to consuming contaminated water.

Water distribution has remained stagnant, and many Haitians face daily uncertainty regarding whether or not they will have access to potable water.

Where did the water filters go?

3 filters went to a tent city in Delmas, Port-au-Prince (shown below): home to approximately 32,000 people (roughly 6,000 families).

On a scorching afternoon, we crammed into a tent in Delmas where we were greeted with incredible hospitality and kindness by a few of the camp representatives. The camp leader, Jean, wearily spoke of daily challenges and hardships including the lack of educational opportunities (most children and young adults do not attend school), food, water, employment, and political representation for Haiti’s poor, especially those in informal IDP (internally displaced persons) camps. Two and a half years post earthquake, the situation in the camps had worsened, not improved, despite the billions of dollars of aid that was supposedly delivered.

He explained how life has become much more complicated in the past year alone. The population in this tent city has increased from 30,000 to 32,000 adding even more stress to the community’s already meager resources and deteriorating living conditions. Violence against women has increased and diseases such as HIV/AIDS, bacterial infections, and cholera have spread as plastic tents offer no protection against intruders, sexual predators, or germs.

While we met a number of incredible individuals over the course of our week in Haiti, Jean’s resilience and passionate determination to help his community were exceptionally inspiring. Without government assistance or acknowledgement, Jean modestly explained to us that he was in the process of putting together an English class, collecting materials to teach a computer course for adults (most of Acra’s residents are young and unskilled), and starting a nutrition/sex ed class with books and informational pamphlets he has collected.

After our conversation, we went outside to put together our first filter with Jean and his wife. We explained the easy process and we tasted the newly purified water to demonstrate our confidence in its effectiveness. Jean thanked us “from the bottom of his heart” for taking the time to meet with him and for the three filters, which he promised to use to distribute water to as many people as possible.

Jean plans to keep one water filter in the centralized portion of the camp and to give the other two to pastors and teachers within the other areas of the camp that he trusts to share.

2 filters went to our partner school in Cité Soleil, Port-au-Prince, the largest slum in the Western Hemisphere, where they will benefit at least 350 students.

An elementary school in Cité Soleil was the recipient of the other two rainwater filters. We have been working all year to raise funds for this school, and got to meet with its amazing director, Florence, to deliver our contribution and discuss the greatest challenges the school faces. A school made entirely of tin and sticks, this shack school is in need of massive renovation by the start of the school year. Because only 10% of schools in Haiti are publicly funded, approximately 50% of Haiti’s school-aged children don’t receive an education due to the costs associated. Although considered a private school (because the government doesn’t provide assistance), this zinc shack school is entirely on its own as the 350 children who attend cannot afford to pay fees. The director relies on donations and partnerships to pay for teachers’ salaries, supplies, rent, and food/water for the children (who usually come with empty stomachs). The filters will provide much-needed support for this school and hopefully when the new structure is built, a rainwater harvesting system can be set in place.

Reflections

SEE Haiti. SEE solidarity. SEE change.

These three short phrases constitute our organization’s vision. For the past year, we have been dedicated to working in solidarity with our Haitian partners to raise awareness and much-needed funds for schools and grassroots organizations in Port-au-Prince. However, I don’t think any of us realized that these words would soon come to define a life mission.

Since we’ve been back, many people have asked the inevitable post-travel question: How was it? As a group, we tried to think of how we would describe our experience and came up with several options…amazing, inspiring, confusing, overwhelming, sad…but really, it’s a combination of all of the above. And in all honesty, it’s impossible to describe Haiti in words. It’s a place you must visit to understand, and there’s something about this country that constantly calls you back. Haiti may be an impoverished nation, but it is far from poor. Haitian resilience and spirit are unlike any other. Though we were only there for 8 days, it seems unquestionable that Haiti will forever be a huge part of each of our lives.

On behalf of SEE and our Haitian friends and partners, we would like to extend a HUGE thank you to RainCatcher for your support, and for your generous donation of 5 rainwater filters. Because of you guys, two deserving communities have received the priceless gift of fresh water. THANK YOU SO MUCH, and we can’t wait to see the wonderful work your organization will continue to do in the future!!!

To learn more about SEE, please visit our website at www.seesolidarity.com or visit us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SEEsolidarity

- Julia, Alexis, Ashley, Rachel, and Emilien — the SEE team