As many of you know I took the year after my college career to explore bringing clean water to towns in the Dominican Republic. So far I am a mere 2 months into this endeavor and I feel overwhelmed and behind on everything.
There is a lot that goes into designing a system, especially one that is trying to keep cost to a minimum. I am aiming for a payback period of around 6 years for our water system. The design of it doesn't seem to be the biggest issue though. No, the biggest problem I have faced is fear itself. The fear of being good enough to do this. I am not actually inventing anything, I am hardly even improving on anything that has been done before. All I am doing is what is naturally right for the good of everyone, providing clean water.
We have yet to provide clean water to anyone yet, except if you count what is being done in Cien Fuegos. I want to do so much there and help them expand but it is difficult to help when we wait for them to see the need to help them. Progress is being made there with the water cages that are starting to be installed throughout the city. What's next requires being there, helping the people.
So the question is how can we move forward and stop feeling so overwhelmed on everything. There is not one simple answer but many small steps that need to be done, like a check list. I have a reworked process to clean the water that requires a much larger storage tank, which means no more roof tanks. That also means we have to find a place for the larger tank, in a place where space is very limited.
I still have yet to find a solution to pay for everything down there, even with a 6 year pay back period raising money will not be easy. We will require a lot of different equipment to just get started. A new well has to be dug and a study on the ground water in the area needs to be complete before we can actually start cleaning the water.
We are taking baby steps to get where we are going but its progress. I hope next time I will be able to share some great news on what is happening there.
Thank you all for your support,
Isaac
Showing posts with label cien fuegos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cien fuegos. Show all posts
Monday, July 1, 2013
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
With Water Life Flows
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Water: World Water Day
What does World Water Day mean to me. It means a day of living without bottled water, without tap water, without showers, without indoor plumbing. Living like over 1 billion people live every day. I am blessed by the resources I have been given at my disposal. The Declaration of Independance sums up best what I believe, "all men are created equal." That quote has always stuck with me throughout my life.
This Friday isn't about the statistics. If we listened to statistics then we would believe that over 1 billion people live without access to clean water, this is misleading. The Dominican Republic is a place where 87 percent of the country has access to clean water, yet they can not drink it from their taps. They have to go and buy bottled water from a store and that is considered access. The city supply that is piped into peoples homes is only available 8 hours a day 3 days a week, if they are lucky. The city supply also is full of harmful bacteria and particles that make you second guess even washing your hands with it. There is more work to be done to improve the water in this country before it should be considered clean by human standards.
World Water Day is about remembering the history of the clean water movement and those who have given their lives to this cause. I read a story today about Perveen Rahman today and her work in the poor districts of Pakistan. She went against the flow and helped bring low cost sanitation methods to Karachi, Pakistan and in the process improved the lives of over a million people. A few hours after I first read about her I head that she was shot dead in the same community that she dedicated her life to improve. This World Water Day should be made in her honor for the work she did to improve the lives of so many. I am sure every last one of us in the water business look up to her for the work she was able to do.
So I realize I havent said much about what World Water Day is. It's a simple idea. It is the one day a year we protest the fact that so many people have no access to clean water or have to relay on bottles of water. We protest by getting together and talking about the issues we face and how we can solve them. We also give up drinking bottles of water, some are going so far as to give up water for the entire day. Some are giving up using indoor plumbing for the day to protest unsanitary conditions a lot of the world faces. Quite a few of us are also giving up showering as a way to protest. No matter how you protest it, it's all for the same cause. Raise awareness on this Friday March 22nd and let everyone know why your protesting. Join us and help us remember Perveen Rahman.
This Friday isn't about the statistics. If we listened to statistics then we would believe that over 1 billion people live without access to clean water, this is misleading. The Dominican Republic is a place where 87 percent of the country has access to clean water, yet they can not drink it from their taps. They have to go and buy bottled water from a store and that is considered access. The city supply that is piped into peoples homes is only available 8 hours a day 3 days a week, if they are lucky. The city supply also is full of harmful bacteria and particles that make you second guess even washing your hands with it. There is more work to be done to improve the water in this country before it should be considered clean by human standards.
World Water Day is about remembering the history of the clean water movement and those who have given their lives to this cause. I read a story today about Perveen Rahman today and her work in the poor districts of Pakistan. She went against the flow and helped bring low cost sanitation methods to Karachi, Pakistan and in the process improved the lives of over a million people. A few hours after I first read about her I head that she was shot dead in the same community that she dedicated her life to improve. This World Water Day should be made in her honor for the work she did to improve the lives of so many. I am sure every last one of us in the water business look up to her for the work she was able to do.
So I realize I havent said much about what World Water Day is. It's a simple idea. It is the one day a year we protest the fact that so many people have no access to clean water or have to relay on bottles of water. We protest by getting together and talking about the issues we face and how we can solve them. We also give up drinking bottles of water, some are going so far as to give up water for the entire day. Some are giving up using indoor plumbing for the day to protest unsanitary conditions a lot of the world faces. Quite a few of us are also giving up showering as a way to protest. No matter how you protest it, it's all for the same cause. Raise awareness on this Friday March 22nd and let everyone know why your protesting. Join us and help us remember Perveen Rahman.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Water: a classless mission
The world is a strange place. Too much of one thing can be bad. No matter how good it is.
Growing up in America and only visiting Western Europe I have never been judged off my skin color. Being white has been the norm. Here the beggars single out the white people and instead of asking for money they try to demand it. Like it's our job to just give them everything they need.
This is the exception more then the norm but twice today I saw how we were singled out and people were trying to demand that we solve all their problems with money. That is very easy to do but it won't do us any good.
This morning we went to cien fuegos and went on a field trip with some of the school children. We got to see the fire station and the water station again. Afterwards instead of taking a bus back to the school the kids walked. It wasn't far but it wouldn't happen in the states. The school was very nice but stood out from the surrounding neighborhood. The village around it kept getting poorer and poorer.
It made me realize just how much they need clean water. We went down to the canal and saw people getting water from it to clean and do laundry with it, or so they said. There is no running water through this part of cien fuegos. Absolutely none. It was touching to see how they live and walk around the town.
After our visit there we went out to dinner with some new friends of ours here. They took us to see how the richest people live. Not to show off but to show us that there is a class system here and there is lots of money. It was a very nice country club, like one you would find in the states.
It was interesting to see how the top 1% hide away from the problems here like they don't exist. At dinner we talked about what the country needs to succeed ad how to get there.
Regulation is the key here. There is none right now. It's an anything goes type society. With regulation that is enforced it would improve living conditions of all. To set the regulations they need a base point to go off of. An example to lead the way. That's where I feel I can be of use and help shape the regulator commission and create the laws needed to maintain a good system for power, water, roads, and government as a whole.
I will be back to clean the water but I will also be setting an example of how things can work correctly and will benefit everyone. In a country where people always feel like your out to get them and that there is a catch its hard to change minds. I believe we can do it though. First we clean the water.
Growing up in America and only visiting Western Europe I have never been judged off my skin color. Being white has been the norm. Here the beggars single out the white people and instead of asking for money they try to demand it. Like it's our job to just give them everything they need.
This is the exception more then the norm but twice today I saw how we were singled out and people were trying to demand that we solve all their problems with money. That is very easy to do but it won't do us any good.
This morning we went to cien fuegos and went on a field trip with some of the school children. We got to see the fire station and the water station again. Afterwards instead of taking a bus back to the school the kids walked. It wasn't far but it wouldn't happen in the states. The school was very nice but stood out from the surrounding neighborhood. The village around it kept getting poorer and poorer.
It made me realize just how much they need clean water. We went down to the canal and saw people getting water from it to clean and do laundry with it, or so they said. There is no running water through this part of cien fuegos. Absolutely none. It was touching to see how they live and walk around the town.
After our visit there we went out to dinner with some new friends of ours here. They took us to see how the richest people live. Not to show off but to show us that there is a class system here and there is lots of money. It was a very nice country club, like one you would find in the states.
It was interesting to see how the top 1% hide away from the problems here like they don't exist. At dinner we talked about what the country needs to succeed ad how to get there.
Regulation is the key here. There is none right now. It's an anything goes type society. With regulation that is enforced it would improve living conditions of all. To set the regulations they need a base point to go off of. An example to lead the way. That's where I feel I can be of use and help shape the regulator commission and create the laws needed to maintain a good system for power, water, roads, and government as a whole.
I will be back to clean the water but I will also be setting an example of how things can work correctly and will benefit everyone. In a country where people always feel like your out to get them and that there is a catch its hard to change minds. I believe we can do it though. First we clean the water.
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