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For those of you in the Indianapolis area, make plans to join the IUPUI Global Health Student Interest Group on April 3 for the Hunger Banquet.
The third annual IUPUI Hunger Banquet will be held on Sunday, April 3rd from 6-8pm in the IUPUI Campus Center, Room 450. The Hunger Banquet is a fundraiser and advocacy event to raise awareness about world hunger. All proceeds of this year's event will benefit the IU-Kenya Orphans and Vulnerable Children's Program and the Tumaini Children's Center in Eldoret, Kenya.
Gift of Water board member Mark Timmons will be there with a display. Stop by to help support a good cause and learn more about how you can get involved with Gift of Water.
Posted on March 7th, 2011
Posted on January 28th, 2011
What a great 4 days! We just wrapped our inaugural formal training program for the Gift of Water technicians in Haiti; the first training held in over 3 years. We had a great team of technicians assembled, including 8 seasoned veterans and 3 brand new ones.
Lead by our In Country Liaison (Lamothe Lormier) and 3 master technicians, the 4 day session provided the technicians with education and training on the following topics:
It was a very interactive environment the entire week. Each technician had to take their turn at assembling, and disassembling, a purification system in front of the team as well as educating a new participating family in the new system. Though everyone struggled a bit initially, it was great to watch the “older” technicians mentor and teach the new ones.
At the culmination of the training event, each technician was tested for comprehension, received a field kit and graduation certificate.
The next training event is scheduled to take place beginning March 28 in Port au Prince. If you have any questions or have technicians in your sister communities you would like to send to future training sessions, please contact Laura Moehling.
Lead by our In Country Liaison (Lamothe Lormier) and 3 master technicians, the 4 day session provided the technicians with education and training on the following topics:
- The Gift of Water purification system (parts, assembly, repair)
- Conducting home visits
- Keeping accurate records (home visits and inventory)
- Microbiology, bacteriology and parasitology
- Water & health concerns
- Hygiene & Sanitation
- Different purification processes
- Various diseases, including Typhoid and Malaria
- Cholera Myths & Facts
- Facilitating a community meeting
- Working with community leaders
It was a very interactive environment the entire week. Each technician had to take their turn at assembling, and disassembling, a purification system in front of the team as well as educating a new participating family in the new system. Though everyone struggled a bit initially, it was great to watch the “older” technicians mentor and teach the new ones.
At the culmination of the training event, each technician was tested for comprehension, received a field kit and graduation certificate.
The next training event is scheduled to take place beginning March 28 in Port au Prince. If you have any questions or have technicians in your sister communities you would like to send to future training sessions, please contact Laura Moehling.
by Laura on January 27th, 2011
Karen and I took a break from the technician training and went to a small mountain village – Oriani – to meet with Sr. Mary Ann Cruz, a Philippine physician/nun who runs a small medical clinic. She is the doctor, nurse, pharmacists – all wrapped into one.I first met Sr. Mary during my trip last April and she was clearly desperate for help. Her village is very remote and she is not twinned with a parish in the States; however, every day she sees the effects of malnutrition and bacteria infested water on the people in her community. We were able to deliver 25 complete systems to Sr. Mary, who will also now add to her list of responsibilities Gift of Water technician!
by Glenn on January 16th, 2011
Yesterday the Gift of Water Board of directors got together for a half day strategic planning session. We brainstormed everything from goals, objectives, budgets, financial goals and fundraising activities. In the spirit of total transparency, I thought I would share with you our goals for the coming year:
- Become a sef-sustaining business
- Procure an on-site location in Haiti
- Build proficiency in training new technicians in Haiti
- Establish manufacturing operations in Haiti
- Employ local Haitians where possible
- Offer short distance shipping in Haiti
- Achieve "Haitian NGO" status
- Cultivate deep ties with Parish Twinning Programs of America
- Swiftly provide access to replacement parts for participating communities
- Recognized as the authority on water purification and point of use systems
- Increase awareness of Gift of Water in Haiti
- Be easy to do business with, whether you are a sponsoring organization, participating community to vendor
- Develop sustainable implementation and financial models
Posted on January 7th, 2011
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (OLMC), a parish located in Carmel, IN, has had a long standing relationship with their sister parish, St. Antoine de Padua in Petite Riviere de Nippes. In late 2007, OLMC assumed responsibility for the Gift of Water program in Petite Riviere; the program had previously been funded and managed by the Visitation Clinic.
In just very short time, the program has blossomed under OLMC's guidance and become the model for implementing and managing GoW in a local community. Mt. Carmel's continues its committment to helping the Haitian people and there is no better evidence of that than yesterday's distribution of 70 new systems to families in area. The availability of these systems is very timely and will certainly prove helpful in fighting cholera in the area.
In just very short time, the program has blossomed under OLMC's guidance and become the model for implementing and managing GoW in a local community. Mt. Carmel's continues its committment to helping the Haitian people and there is no better evidence of that than yesterday's distribution of 70 new systems to families in area. The availability of these systems is very timely and will certainly prove helpful in fighting cholera in the area.
Posted on December 1st, 2010
Happy to report that our latest shipment of purification systems and parts has safely arrived in Haiti. This is the second shipment made in 2010. Curious to know what was sent down? Here it is:
Shipment 1 arrived in haiti on 6/8/2010
Shipment 2 arrived in Haiti on 12/21/2010
Shipment 1 arrived in haiti on 6/8/2010
- 1770 red buckets,grey buckets, red lids and grey lids
- 3480 string filters
- 1520 check valves
- 1720 carbon filters
- 1800 spigots
- 1800 barbed fittings
- 1800 metal washers
- 10 bags of carbon
- 1800 bucket labels
Shipment 2 arrived in Haiti on 12/21/2010
- 1740 red buckets, grey buckets
- 1140 red lids
- 1740 grey lids
- 4000 string filters
- 2142 check valves
- 2400 carbon filters
- 1150 spigots
- 2100 barbed fittings
- 3050 metal washers
- 28 bags of carbon
- 1800 bucket labels
by Glenn on October 21st, 2010
Happy to report that we received our official status as a 501(c)(3) organization. We filed back in August and just got the final paper work!
by Pete on May 3rd, 2010
Just returned from a couple of days out in Petite Riviere de Nippes (PRN), a rural community about 60 miles west of Port au Prince. PRN has a thriving GoW program – under the sponsorship of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (Carmel, IN) - with a team of 8 technicians headed up by Chono. We had the privilege of visiting 13 families using the GoW systems. It was awesome to see the how much pride the families took in their units and the health benefits were obvious!
by Pete on April 29th, 2010
Today was another productive day, having two great meetings with potential GoW suppliers.
In the morning Laura and I met with Pankaj & Prashant at Plastech Solutions, a bucket manufacturer. Plastech currently manufacture 5 gallon buckets in 3 grades light (thin wall), medium (thicker wall) and heavy duty (thickest). We talked about our specific needs and are going to explore some pricing alternatives. Need to keep talking with to nail down some of the logistics – i.e. delivery – but definitely a good contact to have made.
The afternoon was spent meeting with Guy Cave of Propharma. Guy is a distributor of Aquatabs, a water purification tablet manufactured by Medentech. Aquatabs also happen to be the tablets used by the GoW system so Guy may be an excellent resource to procure supplies on our behalf.
In the morning Laura and I met with Pankaj & Prashant at Plastech Solutions, a bucket manufacturer. Plastech currently manufacture 5 gallon buckets in 3 grades light (thin wall), medium (thicker wall) and heavy duty (thickest). We talked about our specific needs and are going to explore some pricing alternatives. Need to keep talking with to nail down some of the logistics – i.e. delivery – but definitely a good contact to have made.
The afternoon was spent meeting with Guy Cave of Propharma. Guy is a distributor of Aquatabs, a water purification tablet manufactured by Medentech. Aquatabs also happen to be the tablets used by the GoW system so Guy may be an excellent resource to procure supplies on our behalf.
Posted on April 28th, 2010
One of the key objectives during this trip was to determine Gift of Water’s future relationship with the Bethel Foundation. For those of you have worked with GoW in the past, you may know Bethel as the organization that previously manufactured, assembled and distributed purification systems in Haiti.
Today we visited the facilities. It has been almost a year since the last production run at Bethel, couple that with the affects of the earthquake and you could definitely see some wear and tear. It was great though to explore firsthand one of our options for building and distributing systems in Haiti.
Today we visited the facilities. It has been almost a year since the last production run at Bethel, couple that with the affects of the earthquake and you could definitely see some wear and tear. It was great though to explore firsthand one of our options for building and distributing systems in Haiti.