Where’s the Poop?

Yesterday was World Toilet Day. I’m sure Hallmark has a card but this is one holiday they didn’t create. In America, we might acquaint the recognition of this day by remembering a filthy bathroom or thinking of the time you had to share with dorm mates in college. But in India, no funds, no space, and no education on the importance of hygiene equals no toilet. And of course no sink.

I met a family this week with a mother, father, grandparents and a 16 year old son. Until one month ago, this family didn’t have a toilet. The government sold the family a squatting plate (imagine a port-o-potty toilet seat that you squat on) but didn’t give them any resources or education to dig a proper pit, built a shelter, or provide handwashing. So the family set the squatting plate by the lake without a hole and did their business there. Feces went directly into the same water that other neighbors used for dish cleaning. No problem right?

A month ago it was determined that the grandparents no longer had the ability to walk to the pond several times a day and instead they were openly defecating by their home. So the parents got in touch with Water For People and our partner Rural Aid and requested a loan for $50 to build one of the first 17 latrines in the village of 256 families. The family now reports health benefits associated with their very clean latrine. Not to mention they are the talk of the village.

This is one example of the 2.5 billion people without a toilet.

Two Days Away from Authentic Indian Food

Photo by Nancy Haws.

Tomorrow I begin the 24 hour flight to India, starting in Kolkata with others from Water For People. We’ll travel to Sagar Island to see water projects and the real impact the organization and its supporters have on the communities. Can’t wait! Then next Thursday I’ll go t see an arsenic program. Arsenic is heavily concentrated in the water in many parts of India, but people don’t often recognize the effects until many years later. But the organization is helping to make the water safe and educate the communities about the problems that arsenic-ridden water will bring in the future.

 

After that, I’m on my own for a week – and open to the possibilities! I’ll be in touch!

Water Crisis: Lack Of Proper Sanitation Choking World (VIDEO)

A video about Water For People was posted on the Huffington Post yesterday. It talks about the impact that the lack of sanitation has on developing countries. Girls literally drop out of school due to lack of privacy. Couple that with the disease and death caused by poor sanitation facilities, and you can imagine how it is hard for families, let alone a region as a whole, to succeed economically. We take sanitation (bathrooms, sewers, the fact that we can flush anything away and it NEVER enters our drinking water) for granted in first-world countries. Take away your sink and toilet, and the inherent hygiene education to know the devastating affects of mixing sanitation facilities and drinking water facilities, and imagine how different your life would be. Please watch the video.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/10/water-crisis-lack-of-prop_n_125438.html

Please help Water For People spread the message by “Digg”ing this video. Click on the this image:  And/Or post it to your Facebook page:

More details

The lack of adequate sanitation facilities affects 2.5 billion people throughout the world. This global crisis greatly contributes to disease and death in developing countries, as well as economic development challenges and low school retention among girls. It’s a topic that many consider taboo, but it is being brought to the surface by ITT during its three-part video series, “Tap into ITT Watermark.” The series was created to educate viewers on ITT’s philanthropy program ITT Watermark and the issues it was designed to address.

The second event of the series, focused on sanitation, was filmed Sept. 9, 2008 during the World Water Congress hosted by the International Water Association in Vienna, Austria, where 3,000 water professionals gathered to advance a common goal of a sustainable future for water. Panelists included Steve Loranger, CEO, ITT Corp.; Ned Breslin, director of international programs, Water For People; and Dr. Darren Saywell, development director, IWA.

We hope you’ll take some time over the next week to watch this important panel discussion on sanitation. You’ll hear more in-depth about the extent of the crisis, as well as how ITT and Water For People are coming together to address the issue. Breslin specifically addresses how ITT’s commitment will allow Water For People to extend its work in schools in India, Honduras and Guatemala, as well as the innovative strategies in place to dramatically increase sanitation in these areas.

The first part of the video series which introduces the philanthropic program is also available to watch on-demand. The third segment will be filmed in October during the water industry event, WEFTEC.

Is There a “Right” Number of Social Media Sites for an Organization?

I just answered a question on LinkedIn that would be good for the blog as well. Should an organization be on 5 social media sites or 35?

I would prioritize. Choose 3-5 to really focus on and create a following on those sites. Then take time once a week to look at other sites you’ve placed your organization and see if you can make quick updates or find one new site a week to join. Be sure to keep a running tally of where your organization is listed. Put one hour a week toward the non-high priority social media sites and move on. But you want to be out there, because you never know which site is the next Facebook or LinkedIn. At Water For People, we focus most of our energy on blogging, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. But, as a non-profit which is always seeking supporters, we definitely want to be listed wherever we can. One fun thing that you can do is create a page on your own web site that compiles multiple social media site contributions into one, such as this page – it’s half-Twitter and half-blog: http://www.waterforpeople.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Follow_to_Uganda . It’s amazing what you can do by leveraging various social media site’s existing technology.

Thoughts on this topic from others in the social media expertise?

Water Is Life – New Video by Water For People

I recently had the privilege of leading the project to create a new video for Water For People, an international non-profit organization which works to bring safe drinking water and sanitation facilities to those in developing countries. It’s currently posted on the Water For People – Facebook Page as well as YouTube. Check it out to learn how this organization affects many thousands of people in developing countries. And please share this with your family, friends, and colleagues. Water For People, as you will see in the video, wouldn’t survive without its supporters and donors. It’s so easy to be a supporter – just take a moment to watch the video and the knowledge-sharing itself helps Water For People to expand its base. As a supporter, you’re also welcome to add the logo to your LinkedIn Profile.

Here are more details of the video!

Around the world, 884 million people do not have access to safe drinking water and 2.5 billion are without adequate sanitation facilities. Watch the video to hear about innovative solutions Water For People, along with its partners, are implementing in developing countries. You’ll also hear directly from staff in the field about the impact Water For People and its donors have on their countries’ residents.

Social Networking for Non Profits

I’ve been trying to make the experience for Water For People constituents more interactive utilizing social media, to which I am fairly new. But today I had a breakthrough (not without a little help from Jon Gosier). Using Twitter, Yahoo Pipes and Feed Burner, a non-profit can have someone out in the world making notes of their experiences on Twitter, then Yahoo Pipes will separate the Tweets into separate RSS feeds, then FeedBurner will give you code so that you can post the constantly updating feed onto a web page specific to the keyword that you filtered against if you want this on your web site as content. I can think of so many possiblities here – the local humane society could set up “easy” breed-specific adoption feeds for potential new pet owners to know the instant a dog/cat/ferret of their choice comes up for adoption. The local political committee can parse out feeds depending on their constituents interests. The homeless shelter could send out up-to-the-minute requests for what they need that day (food, blankets, volunteers, money, etc.) and specifically reach the people that can offer those resources. It’s really quite amazing. Of course you don’t have to use Twitter, but why not put the information out on an application that is growing widely in popularity and gain followers for your organization that way as well as have people subscribe to your RSS feed? If this is all old news to some folks, then I completely understand. And it’s quite possible there’s an easier way to do things than the way I mentioned (please comment if there is!) – but my point is more that social networking is going to do a world of good for non-profits in order to get out our message in a free, and in many ways “cutting-edge” method. I thank Jon (mentioned above) for opening my eyes!

The Picture is Never Crystal Clear

My yoga class was wrapping up today and the teacher said in her final words, “Remember that with any judgment you make, you only had part of the picture.” This struck me specifically because just earlier today I sat frustrated and sad at my desk because a woman in Florida lost her son to heatstroke while she was in a nail salon getting a manicure before her wedding which was planned later that day. The headlines read “Boy Dies After Being Left in Sweltering Car for More Than 2 Hours” and “Boy, 4, ‘boiled to death’ in 139F car after his mother went for manicure on her wedding day.” Try this for an experiment. Type in “Boy dies in car while mom at nail salon” into Google. At the time of writing, a majority of stories dramatized the story by making it appear that the mother had purposely left her child in the car. But upon reading almost every article, you’ll find within about four paragraphs that it is quite likely that the child snuck back into the car and hid behind the seats of the SUV after his mom dropped off other children at a relative’s house. But you would never know this from the headlines. A grieving mother loses her son and all the media can do is blame her on the front page and exonerate her on the inside page. How many people scan the front page and never click through to the story? Newspapers have always jumped for the opportunity to use a cliffhanger headline – but at least newspaper headlines are followed by the full story within a centimeter. The Internet can’t be so crass, without creating a lot of false rumors and needless victims.

Just like we never know the full story when we’re in a simple conversation that has the words “she said, he said” spoken throughout, we never know the full story about any topic. There’s always a piece we’re missing and judgment will always come at the risk of our compassion.