I returned to Canberra on Friday 26^th March for an extended stay to coincide with the birth of my sister’s son, to raise funds and to participate in development of the organisation. I was happy to see that the work in Vientianne has continued thanks to Doug Handisides and Nom Chan. Tom Schwabble has arrived in Vientianne to bring his considerable talents to our project.

In Canberra the Ripple Effect fund-raiser has been a great success and will help launch the next phase – the training of potters from 8 remote villages so they can take the technology back to their villages. While in Canberra I have been introducing our project to many new people, many of whom are becoming supporters. We have also gained extensive media coverage so check out “media” and download and share the articles.

While in Canberra I have shared the clay-pot water filter technology with indigenous potters at the Yurauna Centre, CIT Reid. Janet Fieldhouse, the resident potter has embraced the clay-pot water filter with both hands and is incorporating the technology in her curriculum. Janet and her students are assisting with resolving technical details for the extrusion of the cylindrical filter. The Yurauna Centre’s enthusiasm for the project reflects interest in the CPWF expressed by other indigenous communities elsewhere.

I have been busily following leads of interest in the business community in Canberra. There are good prospects for getting businesses on-board and a number of volunteers have offered to promote a program enabling businesses to sponsor the implementation of the CPWF in a village. Schools have also expressed an interest in the program and we hope to have a volunteer team following up these expressions of interest.

All in all, it has been a busy but satisfying time. It is exciting to spend time with a growing band of volunteers and to feed off their enthusiasm and dedication. If you have been touched by the Abundant Water project or the Ripple Effect please get in touch and tell me about it. I look forward to hearing from you.

The Ripple Effect fund-raiser (Saturday 3rd July) was a great success. We set ourselves an ambitious target to raise sufficient funds to implement the clay-pot water filter program in 8 Lao villages. We have so far raised $8000.00 (AUD). Donations are still trickling in and we encourage all who wish to assist us in achieving our target to spread the word.

The event itself was great fun. Many newcomers to the project commented on the energy, youth and enthusiasm evident at the event. We wish to express our appreciation to the many people who made the event possible. Thanks to C3 Church for kindly making their church available. Thanks to Bill Quinn for conducting the charity auction and his masterly compering of the event. Thanks to Rafe Morris, the Stevenson Experience and Sanj and Hashemoto for their excellent entertainment. Thanks also to Arien and Damien for providing and managing the sound system.

Special mention must be made of all donors who made auction items available on the day: Waves Car Wash, Braddon; Cycle City, Lyneham; Fekertes Restaurant, Dickson; Two Sisters Restaurant, Dickson; Dickson Asian noodle House, Dickson; Eckersleys, Braddon; Smiths Alternative Bookstore, Canberra City; The Framing Store, Braddon; Adventure Trekking Equipment, Braddon; Debacle, Braddon; Purple Pickle Cafe, ANU; Tossalinis Ristorante, Civic; Officeworks, Braddon; Shi Hairdressing, Kingston; Kokoloco Dance Studio; Street Theatre, ANU; Canberra Impro; The Co-op Food Shop, ANU; Lerida Estate Wines; Phoenix Clinic, Turner; Lime Leaves Restaurant, Queanbeyan; Asian Book Room, Macquarie; Sarah Matchett; Eucale Stanes, nutritionist; Melody Kemp, photo-journalist; First Choice Liquor, Braddon; Jenny Wong, graphic designer; Nou Kham, AW pioneer potter; Erawan Bed and Breakfast; Canberra Raiders Rugby League Club; Civic Newsagents; Michelle Slezak, felt artist; The Front Cafe, Lyneham; and Snowgum, Braddon. We are indebted to the generosity of all these donors and ask supporters of the AW project to in turn support these businesses.

We wish also to mention our profound gratitude to the many businesses that provided in-kind support and help make the occasion amply catered for. Our thanks go to the Griffith Butchery; Greenwares; Plastic Creations; Supabarn, Canbera City; Cornucopia Bakery, Braddon; Mr Cheese; Blueys Cafe, Dickson; Wagonga Coffee; Country Valley Milk; Oconnor IGA; Lyneham IGA; Canberra Raiders Rugby league Club; C3 Church Belconnen; the Co-op Food Shop; University of Canberra, Faculty of Arts and Design; and nflame Creative.

The event was made possible by the dedication of a highly motivated team who did it in style and good humour. Many thanks to Babs, Anita, Jenny, Julian, Brendan, Sunny, Sarah, Susan, David, Eucale, Adam, Faith, Michael, Casuarina and Stuart. For small organisations like Abundant Water, raising funds to sustain ‘good work’ can become a real chore and it was gratifying to witness the success of on-line donations. The Ripple Effect not only successfully raised funds but helped raise our profile and introduce the project to many new participants. So stay tuned and we will keep you posted on our next event.

If you are like me, you have watched the situation in Haiti, from a distance, and wondered if there was anything you could do. Abundant Water is developing a disaster response capability to assist communities that have experienced natural disasters to quickly produce their own clay pot filters to provide clean drinking water. Unfortunately we cannot do anything to directly assist after the recent earthquakes.

However, I have received this heartfelt plea through my extended family. The Haitian Development Fund is a small and lean organisation that operates a small medical clinic in Port – Au – Prince. In a great stroke of luck this clinic was largely spared during the recent earthquake and is now providing round the clock medical assistance. If you have a moment, please read the letter from co-founder Greg Richmond and make a contribution to their valuable work – I have.

Sunny

Friends,

Just hours ago I learned that my friend Dr. Moise Cely has survived the

earthquake in Haiti. Not only has Moise survived, but so has our

medical clinic in the Sarthe neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, where he

has been treating hundreds of patients since the earthquake. This is

amazing news for which I am so thankful.

In 2001, after visiting the slums of Port-au-Prince with my friend Brent

DeLand, Brent and I and another colleague started a non-profit

organization called the Haitian Development Fund. Over the past nine

years, we have raised thousands of dollars, all of which has been used

to operate Dr. Moise’s clinic in a shanty town in Port-au-Prince. With

the support of good friends and foundations, we are the sole source of

support for this clinic.

When the earthquake hit Haiti this week, I immediately feared that the

clinic had collapsed. By Saturday morning, when we hadn’t heard from

Moise, I started to fear he hadn’t survived. But not only have the

clinic and Moise made it through the earthquake, our clinic has been one

of the few Port-au-Prince medical facilities that survived and continued

to treat patients. For this, we are extremely thankful.

I ask you to visit our website, www.hdfund.org, to learn more about our

work and to make a contribution to enable us to continue our work in

this time of unprecedented need.

Thank you so much.

Greg Richmond

NACSA

Hey guys,

It took us a little while (this video was for the first half of October) but it’s up and there are plenty more updates on their way. Watch this space.

Please click on ‘First Video Update’ to view video.

This Media Section illustrates 11 ways that water scarcity is being addressed and the number 5 solution is the Clay filter by Abundant Water.

Allianz Knowledge is a part of the Allianz Group which is one of the largest financial services providers in the world.

Allianz Knowledge focuses on Climate Change, Energy, Micro-finance, Demographic Change, and Safety & Health.

http://knowledge.allianz.com/en/media/galleries/water_supply_solutions.html

The Canberra based Abundant Water fund-raising committee was interviewed by Canberra times reporter Megan Doherty about the work that Abundant Water is doing in Lao. This proved to be a great introduction of AW to the Canberra community.

Canberra Times article text:

Abundant Water – a project that grew from the social conscience of a Canberra engineer – is winning supporters from around the world including a French Canadian model and now possibly Yoko Ono.

Thanks to Twitter and Facebook, the reach of the group is extending far beyond the national capital.

Abundant Water is working to bring clean water to the developing world using simple, inexpensive clay filters.

It was started by Canberra engineer Sunny Forsyth, 29, who has taken research by Australian National University lecturer Tony Flynn and applied it to villages in Laos, working with local potters.

Dr Flynn’s work allowed water filters to be made from commonly available materials and fired on the ground using manure, without the need of a kiln.

Bacteria is removed from the water as it drips through the clay filters, reducing the risk of water-borne diseases such as cholera and typhoid. In Laos, used coffee grounds have been found to provide the clay with just the right porosity.

Dr Flynn is happy his work is being used by his former student, Mr Forsyth.

“I’m absolutely delighted that there is interest in it and it is being applied practically and investigated on the ground,” he said.

Four years ago, Mr Forsyth was an engineer with the Defence Department when he decided to spend a year with the Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development program in Laos, initially working for an anti-human-trafficking organisation.

Mr Forsyth said life in Canberra was very comfortable, “but something was missing. I would often ask myself if this was all there was. I had always wanted to make a difference and now I realised this was very important,” he said from Laos. Mr Forsyth has stayed on in Laos to continue work with the water filters, with the possibility the concept may be extended to Indonesia.

Back home, his parents Stuart and Barbara and volunteers including Jennifer Wong and Julian Milthorpe are organising a fund-raiser for Abundant Water next Saturday at Corroboree Park in Ainslie.

Mrs Forsyth said Abundant Water’s high-profile supporters included French Canadian supermodel Judith Bedard. Another Abundant Water supporter was meeting Yoko Ono in New York to garner her support. Mr Milthorpe said, “It’s one of the few projects to which we can contribute some of our time and effort, as opposed to just donating money.”

We are in the middle of Mozilla Service Week. So far we have been approached by a Romanian student and I have had a very helpful Skype chat with social media coach Janet Fouts.

For anyone out there who is wanting to give some of their time and expertise to a worthy cause here are a list of short concrete tasks that will help us immensely:

• Help SEO our blog;

• Help with WordPress plugins;

• Does everybody follow you on twitter? Wanna get the word out about our next twitter chat about clean drinking water?

• Do you facebook? We could use some help with the content on the fan page;

• Do you know of any good places we could post our video to get some more views?

• Do you really know WordPress? We would like to make changes to this template.

Please email us at projects@abundantwater.org if this interests you.