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.

Ripple Effect Fundraiser

The Canberra based Creative Team of Abundant Water has produced this great video for our upcoming fundraiser, Ripple Effect. For more information on Ripple Effect please click here.

Posted on June 9, 2010 by Lynn Hasselberger
Abundant water seems like an oxymoron.

In the U.S., water is a luxury. The average American uses 170 gallons of water per day around the house. The average family of four uses 12,775 gallons of water per year just to flush the toilet! Let me ask you this: would you be willing to spend hours every day walking miles to collect your water?

One billion people don’t even have access to clean water — that would equate to one in six U.S. citizens!

Around the globe, millions of women and children do just that–about 40 pounds strapped on their back–keeping them from school and work. Their average water use: 5 gallons per day. I’d have to drink at least 3 to recover from such rigorous effort. And I don’t think I’d be carrying 170 gallons, either.

The not-for-profit Abundant Water (AW) does not believe abundant water has to be an oxymoron.

Water is essential to healthy and sustainable communities. A safe water supply is integral to agricultural, urban and rural life and greatly affects an individual’s health as well as children’s growth and community viability. Securing a safe and healthy water supply has profound health benefits for individuals and also aids in the development and independence of communities.

~abundantwater.org

Founded by 29-year old Sunny Forsyth, AW is a community from all walks of life and continents, working together to facilitate the training of village potters in the manufacture of clay-pot water filters (developed in Canberra, Australia) that remove bacteria found in dirty water.

“It’s incredible to think that in this day and age, unclean drinking water still kills more people than war,” says Forsyth.

The filters, amazingly enough, are made from natural materials found everywhere. Dirt and coffee grounds are just one possible mixture — fired in burning cow dung — demonstrated in the short video below:

AW got their feet wet (pardon the play on words) in Lao People’s Democratic Republic following a cholera outbreak and trained a local potter in the technique of making the clay pot water filters so that she may train other local potters.

“Using this relatively simple clay pot system, we can remove bacteria that cause cholera, typhoid and dysentary, among others,” according to Forsyth. “Importantly, a key part of our approach is training local potters to produce these filters themselves–thus providing sustainable income as well as a lifetime supply of clean drinking water.”

The United Nations has set a target to halve the number of people without access to clean drinking water by 2015… that means around 125,000 people per day.

AW aims to make a contribution to this goal by hosting a fundraiser event in July in Canberra, Australia. Money raised will be used to provide their trained potter the means to train potters in 8 Laos villages to make filters for their own communities, who in turn will add to the Ripple Effect through training more potters in new villages.

You can help by donating $8 for 8 villages or attend the Ripple Effect fundraiser event July 3, 2010.

More about Abundant Water. Sunny Forsyth created Abundant Water in 2008 when he became aware of the lack of access to safe drinking water in rural communities in Laos while working as an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development.

“We are learning that the true meaning of ‘abundance’ is generosity and sharing. We are finding that it is not the scarcity of resources that limits development and progress but the unwillingness to share our knowledge and our lives. Through collaborating on this project we are breaking down barriers and borders and discovering our humanity and our global community.”

Currently, a training regime is under development to share the technology and model with Fremma, a Ugandan national, to introduce the Abundant Water model to the Nakivale Refugee Camp in Uganda. A training regime is also being developed with the Yurauna Centre at the Canberra Institute of Technology to share the technology and model with Indigenous Australian potters.

To learn more about Abundant Water, visit their website at abundantwater.org. Please join their facebook page and follow them on twitter @abundantwater.

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