Saving Lives through Safe Water
World Help Foundation (WHF) Program Requirements and Projects In Need of Funding
Major Project
Guinea worm exiting stomach area Slowly wrap worm on stick for 6 weeks Gathering drinking water at Guinea worm infested pond
Eradicating Guinea worm
Guinea worm may not be fatal but surely it is a scourge, caused by bad water. Partnerships of nonprofits have been 90% successful in its elimination. Of the remaining cases, 70% are in Ghana, most of the rest are in the Sudan. It’s not everyday that a non-profit has the opportunity to help drive a disease to extinction, but that’s just what World Help is doing. Guinea worm is debilitating for 6-10 weeks, and is found in the water in 2 african countries, Ghana and Chad. Most of the cases are in Ghana in the Brong Ahafo region. World Help is spearheading the drive in this region. Other non-profits are partnering, with Carter Center and World Vision providing essential services in Ghana.
Adult Guinea worms digest their way through the human body to lay their eggs in a stream. The process of emerging can cause 6 weeks of excruciating pain. It is plain to see that no one should have to live like this. The life cycle of the worm is bizarre. Eggs hatch in streams and some are ingested by a water flea. When people drink this water, the flea is digested leaving Guinea worm eggs to hatch in the intestine (the eggs not inside fleas are killed by stomach acids). Upon maturity the worms grow as long as 3 feet and digest their way through the skin, usually in the lower half of the body, taking 6 weeks to fully emerge. The lesion they create is so painful that people soak the sore in a stream for relief. This begins the cycle anew as the worm releases its eggs upon contact with the water. There are several ways to eliminate Guinea worm, but the best is to provide potable water. Its very presence is an indicator of water so unsafe that over 25% of children will die before age 5 from ancillary diseases - cholera, dysentery, typhoid and a host of other organisms.
The program consists of providing 30,000 people with potable water and 10,000 people with latrines. This will be accomplished by drilling 20 wells, digging 5 hand dug wells to be fitted with hand pumps, installation of 3 solar powered systems with submersible pumps in larger communities and building 1,000 latrines. Sustainability is a big part of any project in Africa, and World Help will ensure the equipment is maintained in the future and stays operable. WHF will also provide the pumps and solar equipment for the project.
WHF is raising $600,000 for this project over a 2 year period. Most of this money is matched by another non-profit, then that amount matched again for a total of $1.6 million.
Other Projects
Cambodia: Hearts and Hands for Cambodia, a USA-based non-profit, supports an orphanage in need of potable water. A solar-battery back up Point-of-Use (POU) will be installed at the orphanage and an assessment done of needs in the villages of the surrounding area. WHF will provide for assessment of the need for water treatment and extended distribution, and for improved sanitary facilities, and installation of recommended improvements, as well as training of local technicians in installation and maintenance, managing replacement parts, delivery of related hygiene messages, and financing for sustainability.
Cost: $2,000 for a solar POU. $300 for shipment. $5,000 to provide for a full needs assessment for Community Water Distribution Systems (CWDSs) and for subsequent installation/maintenance/hygiene/financing training.
Ethiopia: Partnering with other organizations expands the reach of our services. WHF is pleased to be an advocate for The Denan Project. Denan is one of the 7 Woredas of Gode Zone of the Somali Regional State of Ethiopia. It is one of the oldest towns in the region, dating back more than a century. Once it was the main market center of the area. Because of the lack of potable water, people have fled the area leaving behind mostly the native settlers. The town is in a valley that is fed by several intermittent streams...when the rains come. The population is ~ 30,000 including a huge settlement (~14,000) of internally displaced people (IDPs) on the outskirts of the town. The rains failed for three years, producing a very severe drought. Recently, torrential rains came with resultant flooding that increased the contamination of existing water sources. WHF supplied a solar/battery back up POU unit that was provided to treat water at a sink in a rural clinic serving as many as possible in a growing refugee encampment. More than this POU is needed, however. The water supply scheme for Denan is based on the Water Feasibility Study funded by UNICEF and conducted by the Regional Water, Mines and Energy Bureau in January 2004. Its aim was to have a sustainable solution for the water problem in Denan rather than trucking emergency water in when and if funding was available. The project will supply potable water to Denan by constructing a pipeline from Kore, a distance of 12 km from Denan. The people of the area have volunteered to provide all labor, free of charge, except for food while at work. The project components include: development of a new borehole beside the previous two boreholes, construction of 100M3 chamber collection, construction of a pipeline, building a 50M3 water Reservoir, and construction of distribution points and cattle troughs. The implementation of a safe water project will be carried out in collaboration with the government by a local non-profit, the Ogaden Welfare and Development Association and members of the USA-based non-profit, The Denan Project.
Cost: $250,000 for development of the water resources according to the above Water Feasibility Study. Below is the breakdown of this cost: 1. Intake site at Kore (rehabilitation and drilling B H purchase of pumps & generators, $100,000; 2. 100m3 capacity collecting chamber, $25,000; 3. pipe laying from collecting chamber (Food for Work), $20,000; 4. balancing service reservoir 50m3, $15,000; distribution networks, $40,000; water points and cattle trough (8,1), $12,000; generator house, $10,000. Total $222,000. Contingency and miscellaneous, $28,000. Grand Total: $250,000.
These funds will be provided directly to The Denan Project to be distributed by them to the Ogaden Welfare and Development Association for execution of this project. Donations for this project can be made to World Help Foundation or directly to the attention of Dick Young, The Denan Project, Inc., P.O. Box 543, Woodbury, CT 06798. There is more to The Denan Project than safe water. For more information, Dick Young's telephone number is 212-787-8954 and his email is dick@dickyoungproductions.com.
Future Project: Ethiopia - Lake Victoria: WHF is working together with a USA-based church to support a school with safe water. The water will be piped from Lake Victoria. A site study is now being organized to determine what type of solution is most appropriate for this site, whether a POE or a CWDS. The cost for this project should be known by mid-2007.
Ghana: WHF has established an on-going program in Ghana where the drinking water is among the worst worldwide. WHF’s Country Program Representative manages this expanding country program. To date, WHF has donated over 100 point-of-use purifiers to the Ghanaian Ministry of Health and to host Rotary clubs to place in clinics and schools in the southern region of the country. Two WHF safe water towers providing access near homes now serve two villages - for one a well was dug. A new generator powers a pump that fills the storage tank of a gravity-fed community distribution system installed by the World Bank. Several communities have been planning for their water resource improvements and now is the time to install their equipment. One purification/filtration CWDS will serve Samsam Kenan and the Samsam Rural Health Clinic and another will serve Samsam Odumase. A distribution system will serve Pakyi #2 (see below).
FUNDING URGENTLY NEEDED:
Tema: There are 2 shantytowns near Tema in need of community distribution systems. These two systems are complete except for the local costs involved in site preparation.
Cost: $2,500 to cover local costs involved in site preparation.
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At right: Current Sanitation Facilities in Pakyi #2. An integrated water, sanitation and hygiene education community development program is being prepared for Ghana that will be replicated globally. Cost: $2,500 for a site survey and integrated development plan for Pakyi #1 and #2, to be done by KNUST, a local university, and WHF. |
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Haiti:
Tongues of Fire Ministry. This Christian outreach ministry is becoming active in safe water work. They are already operational with other support activities in Haiti. WHF is to assist with support for a minister/chemist who will undertake water testing and work together with local experts to assess solution needs that are expected to include CWDSs, POUs and POEs. The aim is to achieve universal coverage in villages entered, therefore a forward plan must be developed that will guide the introduction of these solutions into the selected villages. This forward plan will be developed by a WHF staff person to be implemented by this Ministry with WHF support.
Cost: $5,500 for airfare, in-country transportation, lodging and meals and communications for one minister/chemist and a WHF program development provider.
Cost: $30,000 for a CWDS, two solar POUs and 2 POEs for the first village. $2,500 is needed for shipping.
Port-au-Prince fringe area: four Elementary Schools. Project development is underway to serve four elementary schools in rural areas outside Port-au-Prince. This project will be carried out by local Churches with the support of Churches of the Church of Christ in the USA. Site assessments to determine the most appropriate solutions are needed. The solutions will either be POE units or CWDSs.
Cost: The four schools are expected to require water treatment and on-site sanitary facilities at an estimated cost of $5,000 for each school, or $20,000 if POEs are installed or $20,000 or $80,000 total if CWDSs are installed.
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Jeremie.
In 1991, ten
WHF point-of-use purification/filtration systems were installed at sinks
in
the health
clinic
of
the Haitian
Health
Foundation in the Jeremie, Haiti region. The Haitian Health Foundation
reports that before they had their safe water equipment at the clinic,
their clinic staff were too ill to do their work. With the installation
of 9 more purification systems, there have been no cases of illness due
to contaminated water. They are now healthy and their patients, too,
have benefited from having potable water. POUs installed in 1991 are
still working “as new”!
The Haitian Health Foundation has discussed with WHF their aim to serve 100 villages by installing CWDSs. Further negotiations are hoped for that will result in identifying the initial villages in which to respond. The plan for this multi-site project is expected to be completed by mid-2007. Cost: $20,000 is needed for each CWDS. (If POUs and/or POEs are needed, this Cost item may be increased to $30,000.) Shipping will be managed by the Haitian Health Foundation. |
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| Health Clinic POU |
India: An exploratory trip is needed to develop a safe water, sanitation and hygiene education program together with a consortium of service clubs, Churches, implementing non-profits and professional associations, including the Voluntary Health Association of India, as well as academic institutions having science and technology departments, and local host governments. Presently there are a few counterpart agencies interested in several projects each; one Church counterpart oversees some 300 Indian churches. The result expected is a program plan for WHF to implement together with those counterparts identified during this exploratory trip. The program budget to be specified by this safe water and sanitation resource development program plan is expected to be $250M.
Cost: $19,800 for a three months paid WHF contract. $23,700 for airfare, lodging/meals, in-country transportation, communications, stationary, video equipment and supplies, immunizations and an emergency health coverage insurance plan.
Kenya: Northeastern Kenya is desert. Twice a year, the rains fall but the water quickly vanishes in the desert sands. Recently, there has been a drought. A Kenyan NGO, the Pastoral Integrated Support Program (PISP), has assisted the Gabbra, the nomadic people of 45,000 dwelling there, to harvest rain in underground catchment tanks and rock catchments, to dig shallow wells and deeper wells, and to build earth dams. There is also one artesian well. The underground tanks are positioned to collect the water running down from hills, so the water, once collected, must be treated. The shallow wells, too, are at risk of contamination and only a few are permanent, resulting in the need for a mobile CWDS. Currently, the Gabbra go down into their shallow wells, up to 10 people in a `bucket brigade’ to bring up 10 gallons of water a minute for themselves and their livestock. During the draught, if water is not brought up rapidly enough to till the cattle trough of cement, built as a barrier, the cattle jump over the trough into the shallow wells, sometimes knocking in one or more of the people who tend them. Death has occurred this way. Chachu Ganya, the Director of PISP, himself a Gabbra, says, “Help us to bring the water up. This is very hard. And the water is dirty.” The water of the earth dam serves multiple purposes, so it, too, is contaminated. The artesian well water is the least contaminated, but it, too, is not yet potable.
The area is remote; without electricity. Three solar/battery back-up community purification-filtration-distribution systems will be installed at three different types of water sources, to serve three villages, after which systems will be replicated to other similar sites. A mobile CWDS will be fielding in a fourth village as a part of the initial response. Eventually, sufficient numbers of safe water improvements will serve the 45,000 Gabbra who migrate through the villages where these systems will be located and maintained by those among them who are sedentary.
Cost: $20,000 for each of the first three solar/battery back-up CWDSs, or $60,000. $7,500 for shipping for 40’ container and overland travel of 700 miles. Funding for these three systems is critically needed.
Cost: $75,000 is needed for a mobile CWDS. (Transportation requirements are still to be assessed. If this is truck-based, the truck will be driven the 700 miles to its destination at a cost covering expenses of its driver and gas.)
PISP, already internationally recognized as being at the forefront of sustainable development by UNDP and other UN agencies, needs support in order to further assess safe water, sanitation and hygiene education needs in the program area and to manage a long-term (15-20 year) development assistance program. This program will include evaluation of a sustainable developmental approach (developed with tribal participation) as well as assessing the requirements for operational sustainability of technical improvements. The developmental approach will take into consideration the environmental/ecological and communal behavioral/livelihood impacts of these improvements. Solutions will be placed over the coarse of the first five years of this long term program, so evaluation will be done, routinely, over a five year period. Thereafter, equipment operation monitoring will continue but not the formal assessment of program impact. This work will include that of a local water and sanitation engineer. A formal scope of work will be prepared that will detail the assessment/evaluation work as well as all of the project development/management activity to be undertaken during this five year period. Included in the documentation is how the Gabbra, themselves, will contribute to the financial support of PISP and to the sustaining (operations from the 3rd through the 15th-20th years) of their safe water equipment.
Cost: $125,000 represents half of what is needed to support PISP in meeting the critical water and sanitation planning and program administration needs of the Gabbra over this five year period. This support is envisaged as a matching grant. This will enable PISP to approach other donor agencies for the matched funding. PISP has the support of a few international donors and should be able to raise these funds in a timely manner.
Non-profit Consortium Prototype (R&D) Safe Water Purification-Filtration-Expanded Distribution `Disaster Relief Unit’ (DRU) or `Disaster Relief System' (DRS): WHF intends to establish a consortium of relief agencies, secure their technical recommendations, and R&D a prototype on a modular basis, in order to be flexible in response to water conditions, particularly excessive turbidity and microbial contamination. After manufacture, the prototype(s) will be fielded through the participating agencies and funding for replication will be sought from major donor agencies supporting relief efforts.
R&D of a Relief Agency/WHF Consortium Safe Water DRU - Cost: $25,000 for initial survey, research/analysis, specification of performance requirements and existing vendor equipment testing; $25,000 for R&D of five modular prototype DRU, and $50,000 for NSF certification.
The WHF Global Water and Sanitation Programmatic Response (WSPR) seeks sponsor/donor and host/implementing agency contacts for future water and/or projects in the following countries in order to advance our Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WSH) activities: Africa – Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Sudan; Asia – Afghanistan, China, Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Yemen; Europe – Romania; Latin America – Brazil, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Venezuela; Oceana – Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands. On behalf of those we would together serve, thank you.
Join the celebration of love, friendship and the life-sustaining benefits of safe, clear, sweet water – and more! Help WHF as we expand to field sanitation solutions. Email the sanitation solutions you have found effective and watch as include these as we develop our website to include the best of solutions currently available, given soil conditions and access to water for sanitary purposes. In all things, know Who blesses you and how you are blessed, give credit where credit is due, and enjoy! Celebrate Life!