H2O 4 EVERY 1

Jack Rose in Kenya.

H2O 4 EVERY 1
The RainCatcher Story

by Jack Rose

The One Cent Solution — Water for everyone at no cost to anyone.

While traveling through Africa I don’t look around and say what’s wrong, I only see what’s missing. As far as solving the contaminated drinking water problem, all that’s missing is the hardware — rain gutters and water tanks.

The big breakthrough for me, of course, was listening to Einstein, who said, “A problem cannot be solved at the same level of thinking that created the problem in the first place.”

A paradigm shift is a complete reversal of attitude and perspective – a change of heart and mind.

The problem of a ‘world water shortage’ exists in the perspective of “There isn’t enough — water or money — to solve the problem”. From that point of view, as Einstein said, the problem will never be solved.

The following proposal offers another approach based on this obvious truth: One of the easiest things a human can do is catch rainwater from the sky.

The One Cent Solution: Water for everyone at no cost to anyone.

The way I see it, every building with a roof on it is a potential RainCatcher. All that’s missing are the gutters and water storage tanks. All that’s missing for a solution to happen is the decision to channel funds in this direction.

The cost of one military tank would buy forty thousand water tanks. That’s a lot of water for a lot of thirsty people. The billions that NASA is seeking for the search for water on Mars, if redirected back to earth, would secure water for everyone. Again, all that’s missing for a solution to happen is the decision to channel funds in this direction.

My primary job is to tell the story to inspire this decision to be made. I will not stop until it is done.

Ironically, the story is one of abundance, not lack, for everywhere I traveled I noticed that there wasn’t a shortage of water given, just a shortage of water received. That changes the focus entirely and lets everyone know that this is a solvable problem.

All that is missing for a solution to happen is the decision to channel funds into buying and delivering rain gutters and water tanks.

After demonstrating that there is no shortage of water resources, the next challenge is to do the same with financial resources.

Here’s how I do that: The One Cent Solution: Water for everyone at no cost to anyone.

Each person who can afford a drink of clean water shares a glass with someone who can’t: Allocating one penny per bottled water world-wide will generate billions of dollars. This will place gutters and tanks on every school house in Africa, India, China, everywhere.

“This year, Americans will drink more than 30 billion single-serving bottles of water. We will drink more than nine billion gallons of bottled water, nearly all of it from throwaway plastic bottles.” – Jon Mooallem, The Unintended Consequences of Hyperhydration, New York Times.

It’s possible that those who can afford a clean bottle of water can help others get a drink as well.

Here’s how we do this: The One Cent Solution: Water for everyone at no cost to anyone.

A dollar + for a 20 oz. bottle of water from the local gas station adds up to over $6.00 per gallon. My proposal is to allocate approximately one cent per bottle, or six cents per gallon, to buying clean water for those who can’t afford it. Nine billion gallons of bottled water x .o6 per gallon adds up to 500 million dollars annually to go directly to setting up rain catching systems all over the world.

Neither consumers nor corporations will ever notice the loss of one penny per bottle. If America leads the way and all other nations follow, there will be enough water tanks, rain gutters and filters for everyone who needs clean drinking water. This = H2O 4 EVERY 1 with the coming of the next rains.

Who could say no to that?

A simple and beautiful solution: Each person who can afford a drink of clean water shares a glass with someone who can’t.

Water for everyone at no cost to anyone.

8 billion glasses

On Dec 5, 2006, at 10:27 PM, David Nyabuto Ogachi wrote:

Hi Jack, Thank you for your reply. As a matter of fact we agree with your suggestion of 6,000 litre tanks. And the foundation could be that of treated timber posts,this could be much cheaper. We hope to start catching rain soon.
Yours in friendship,
David N. Ogachi.

David, Way to go! I will email Fred Mango to see how much these cost.We can get five tanks in one truck, which will help for shipping.
Yours in friendship,
Jack

Hi Fred,
Can you give me a quote for the best possible price for a truckload of 5 -6000 litre tanks delivered to Bosiango. I think these will be more affordable and portable and I’m hoping to be able to place an order faster than if I were to wait for funds for the larger tanks. At least we can start catching rain sooner than later.
Your partner in the Bosiango RainCatcher Project,
Jack Rose

On Dec 7, 2006, at 1:42 AM, Cecilia Bergqvist wrote from Sweden:

Hi Jack!. . .The Raincatcher project in Africa is EXCITING!!! I wonder if I could help from here in some way. Wouldn’t that be cool…Just, keep that in mind when you get started, that if I somehow could make Sweden or Europe involved in this I’m open to it!!! What do you think!?
Love and good luck! Cecilia
p.s. I have a lot of time and not much work (unfortunately not any money either) but a lot of strength and in need of a new meaningful challenge…

Hi Cecilia, Yes.
There is much you can do. So many negative chain reactions in mid-process around the world. What I intend to do with the Bosiango RainCatcher Project is start a positive chain reaction that never stops, where each project leads to the next and then to many others until everyone has their own source of clean water.

We are told that everyone needs to drink eight glasses of water a day. When you and I show up anywhere for dinner, there is always a glass of water at our table setting. If a billion people don’t have access to a reliable source of clean & safe drinking water, then the way I see it – each day, when humanity’s table is set, we are about 8 billion glasses short. I am a waiter bringing as many glasses of water to the daily table as I can. So, yes, you can be a waitress and help me carry water.

You can help me set up RainCatcher Europe, with an office in Split. Traveling back and forth between Europe and Africa is so much easier, because of the same time zone. On my way back from Kenya in January I will meet you in Split and we can find a contact there. With computers we can work from a variety of locations in Europe, including Sweden if that’s home for you. On the January trip I will be meeting with several organizations and getting everything set up so we can raise funds in America & Europe that go directly to Kentainers (in four countries in Africa). When enough adds up for a truckload, a delivery of tanks & gutters is made to far away villages.

6000 litre tanks, can be delivered 500km from Nairobi to Bosiango – 5 on one truck. This will be our first delivery. My goal is to raise enough for this first shipment soon so they can get to Bosiango in time for Christmas. Then I will go there in January to plan subsequent deliveries. I would like to do 4 trucks total – 20 tanks – That will be a capacity of 120,000 litres (26,000) gallons)

Our job, as waiter & waitress, will be to tell the RainCatcher story. Some who hear it will want to provide a few glasses of water – one tank is 20,000 glasses of water – and then the tank keeps filling up, and overflowing, for the next 30 years. The impact of a single water storage tank is immeasurable. Over the next few decades we should be able to be a part of a chain reaction that results in thousands of tanks and millions of glasses of water – a positive use of domino theory.

Catching rain is child’s play. It is one of the most simple and natural things a human can do. RainCatcher is all about nuts & bolts, the hardware – getting materials delivered to communities so they can create their own source of water.

Below are two links to the types of organizations I plan to visit while in Africa:

Bead For Life in Uganda – beadforlife.org
Tuna’HAKI Foundation in Tanzania tunahaki.org — Empowering AIDS orphans and street children in Africa

Both are near the Bosiango Project, just across the border from Western Kenya.

Much love,
Jack

Invitation to Africa

On May 10 I return to California to continue fundraising for the next trip to Africa. Many more schools need rain collection and storage systems. I plan to travel with Water For Children Africa on their next big adventure. My host in Nairobi, Florence Makau, and her building partner, are the ones continuing rainwater collection work in Kenya. I can raise funds in Europe and America and send to them and they can get the systems set up immediately at the remaining schools that still need water. We don’t have to wait another day. In Africa my work is to catch rain, in America it is to light fires, to inspire people to help secure reliable sources of clean drinking water, especially for the children who are more at risk to waterborne diseases.

I have never met a more happier or alive people. The ones who appear to have little have something we lack, a sparkle, a smile, an openness, an ease, a faith, a way, all connected to some deeper well. To be there, to live there, in friendship, is a blessing. I went to Africa thinking I had something they needed. I am returning with the knowledge that it is us who need Africa. My new pastime, therefore, is simply to encourage everyone I know and love, and the new friends I meet, to somehow get to Africa. Return to the garden, where we are not the gardner, but the flower. I will do what I can to help people have a safe and fulfilling journey to Africa, Africa will do the rest. Consider this the first installment of your invitation to Africa.

MEDIA ADVISORY — Water for Children Africa trip

Media Advisory

Contact: Sharon Ross

“Thank you for the two water tanks that you gave us. Last year people were suffering from typhoid because of bad water from rivers, but now we are drinking clean water because of you …” Kamuthanga Primary School, Machakos, Kenya 11/6/03

Students taking shoebox kits and quilts to African HIV moms; also building “RainCatchers” — a pilot born from the San Diego wildfires.

“The challenges facing children in Africa are devastating,” said San Diego World Affairs Council President Vickie Butcher, executive director of Water for Children Africa. “A growing number of children there have been orphaned by the AIDS pandemic or are themselves HIV positive; 30,000 die daily from lack of water and simple sanitation; and extended drought means millions more are starving.”

To help battle two major problems facing Africa — the water shortage and AIDS — Butcher is leading a team of San Diegans to Africa April 1–18. They will stay with families in South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya and Botswana. This is Butcher’s seventh trip to provide interactions that promote cultural awareness and reduce cultural misunderstanding. “It’s important for people to experience worlds they’ve only heard about,” she said.

Team members include Encanto residents Janice Groves-Todd, Soroptimist South Bay President, and school counselor Keashonna Christopher; Rev. Alyce Smith-Cooper of Golden Hill; and University City resident Michael McCraw, President & CEO of the California Southern Small Business Loan Agency.

In addition, students will participate in the trip to help form a cultural bridge linking America’s youth with Africa’s youth, Butcher said. Students selected for the team are: Heather Elkins of La Mesa, Grossmont College Rotaract VP; Golden Hill residents Diona Johnson, Futures High School Interact President; and her brother James Cunningham, a San Diego High School freshman; La Jollan Carlos McCraw, a High Tech High School sophomore; and Kelly Ross of North Park, Grossmont College Rotaract President.

Butcher, a member of the California State Water Authority Board, also will be joined by self-described “rain farmer” Jack Rose in a first-ever RainCatcher (www.raincatcher.org) project for Africa. In an ironic twist, the team learned about the water expert while he was in Julian to help a friend rebuild following the October wildfires.

“Every eight seconds someone dies of contaminated water — that’s five million deaths a year according to the World Health Organization,” Rose said. “A recent meeting of 10 countries in Africa identified improved collection of rainwater as an important effort to ease this terrible problem.” The team will be piloting Rose’s RainCatcher invention — a harvesting structure that can be set up in a day, at minimal cost, using materials at hand. “There are many ways to catch the rain. Any existing structure or freestanding tent can be converted to become a rainwater factory, ready to provide thousands of gallons of clean drinking water,” Rose said.

With generous support from across the nation, the team also will fund water tanks for schools in the Machakos region of Kenya. Each tank ensures a safe, sustainable water supply and improve health conditions for 300-500 children.

“In South Africa, we are participating in an international AIDS effort called Hope Through Knowledge,” Butcher added. “We are taking hundreds of shoeboxes filled with important supplies for HIV positive mothers learning how to care for themselves and their children.” The shoe boxes have been assembled by local churches including Bethel AME, Cathedral of St. Paul’s, Faith Chapel Church of God and Christ, Christian Fellowship, Women of Vision Outreach Ministry and Bethel Baptist Church. Kit contents include bacterial handwash, bandaids, gauze, hospital gloves, a pain reliever, lotion, shampoo, toothpaste & brushes, handwipes, baby quilt, clothing and toy. Beautiful handmade quilts for the babies were made by the Quilt Ministry at Bethel AME Church.

Supporters of the team’s efforts include: the El Cajon Breakfast Rotary Club; Water for Children Africa, Alliance for African Assistance; Rotary Club of Machakos, Kenya; Rotary Club of Johannesburg N Central, South Africa; Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, Johannesburg, South Africa; Rand Afrikaans University, South Africa; El Cajon Valley School District and Grossmont Community College.

Additional support is still needed and will help extend the outreach efforts of the team. Water tanks, for instance, cost $500 each; 10 kits cost $50. Tax-deductible donations are welcome to Neighborhood Fundraising Network, Inc., 5941 Cozzens, San Diego, CA 92122.

For more information, call the “It is Written Community Bookstore” at 619-286-5952.