Happy Holidays!

Hi everyone,

The children of Comején and Aguayuda wish you Happy Holidays and a prosperous New Year!

Please help us provide clean water and education to people in need by making a tax-deductable donation to Aguayuda.
Thank you for all the great support we have received over the years. The people you have helped and we at Aguayuda appreciate your commitment to our mission.

Happy Holidays!

Sincerely,

Save the Date: 5-Year Anniversary Presentation on December 1, 2011

Five Aguayuda factoids by the numbers include:

5: Number of years Aguayuda has been serving 3,900 people in Latin America with the delivery and implementation of sustainable clean-water solutions, accompanied with educational workshops.

11: Number of communities Aguayuda has helped gain access to clean water.

2,100: Number of people and students in La Guajira, Colombia receiving water through water truck deliveries sponsored by generous donors.

5: Number of clean-water solutions in Aguayuda’s toolbox. Those solutions are well, rain harvesting, windmill, pipeline and filtration.

205: Number of individual donors, foundations, companies, and volunteers who made these achievements possible.

To celebrate its five-year anniversary, Aguayuda will host a presentation on Thursday, December 1, 2011, from 5:00 to 6:30 pm at the Historical Society Auditorium in Easton, Maryland.

Cofounders Simón Zimmer and Sabrina Zimmermann will give a multimedia presentation about Aguayuda’s mission and approach; water and education projects in Latin America; and Aguayuda’s vision for the future.

The event is free to the public and refreshments will be served. Reservations are encouraged by email at info@aguayuda.org or by calling 410-463-1455.

Event location:
The Historical Society Auditorium
17 South Washington Street
Easton, MD 21601
(410) 822-0773

Best regards,

Guest Post from Ariel Goldstein – Intern at Aguayuda

Ariel Goldstein has been interning with Aguayuda the last two months and has been a huge help in many areas. Thank you for all your hard work Ariel, we look forward to staying in contact with you not only as an ex-colleague but also a good friend. We wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

The following is a post by Ariel about his experience interning for Aguayuda:

Water is the topic of the moment. From droughts in the United States to high-profile, celebrity-studded international water aid organizations, everyone is talking about this vital commodity. Water has been a personal interest of mine since the first time I heard some of the many alarming statistics on the mortality and disease rates associated with water insecurity. You know the ones: a child dies every 20 seconds from a water-related illness, and one half of all people hospitalized right now throughout the world are there because of a water-borne disease. I live in the global north and have had a hard time fully comprehending the implications of these figures. I could no longer take for granted the simple act of drawing potable water from the tap, and wondered what, if anything, that I could do to try and remediate this dire situation. In school, I interned with several nonprofit organizations working on this global health crisis, and I saw firsthand the enormous amount of labor and bureaucratic effort that international water projects require. Simultaneously enthralled and disheartened at the cumbersome methods that nonprofits employ to do such urgent work, I wondered where I could fit into the picture. Then I found Aguayuda.

Aguayuda redefines what is meant by “grassroots.” Run by an impassioned and intelligent couple, Sabrina and Simón, this nonprofit organization operates on a shoestring budget, requiring hundreds of hours a week of volunteer work. Their passion is infectious, and they have created an inspiring atmosphere in which to work. When I joined the team, I had experience assisting with research and writing but always in a background position. At Aguayuda, I was now drafting, editing, and researching in a primary role. Being included in meetings with board members, working out project outlines, and working collaboratively with people who are professionally my senior was a very powerful feeling. With every grant I wrote, and every piece of information I found and sorted, I really knew that I was part of an important project. I am a concept-oriented individual, and the firsthand experience of working on these projects was very helpful for my understanding of how this type of work is done.

Aside from gaining experience through the process of applying for grants, drafting outreach communications, and working through project ideas, I benefited from Sabrina and Simón each taking the time to explain the tactics they use to make their work more effective. I have learned organizational strategies for foundation research, have a better understanding of the pitfalls of working abroad, and now know the best way to optimize photographs for deliverables. The autonomy of work was great, as was the constructive feedback I received. I also enjoyed the variety of tasks that I was given, everything from launching e-mail campaigns to drafting grant proposals, fact-checking educational manuals, and researching and contacting potential partners. I left Aguayuda with a renewed appreciation of what a difference in the world determination and ingenuity can make, and will enjoy keeping up with and participating in the work they will do in the future.

Talking with Colombia:

Paula Delgado-Kling from the blog "Talking with Colombia" wrote a blog about co-founder Simón Zimmer and Aguayuda.

Please check it out at:

Talking with Colombia Blog Post

Best regards,

Making Progress in Many Areas!

It is a very exciting time for us here at Aguayuda. We are growing in the number of volunteers, in the number of prospective projects, while learning about new technologies that we hope to utilize on future sites. Every time we go to Colombia we come across another community in desperate need of a water solution, and our growing tool box of resources allows us to plan appropriate interventions for their specific needs.

Aguayuda would also like to welcome our two full time summer interns Ariel and Phyo, as well as thank our worldwide network of volunteers and donors, especially Kathleen and Bonnie who are helping with grant writing and fundraising, Rebekah our social media volunteer, Stefanie, Ana and Mario who translated our new website update as well as Jack and Jorge who are helping in the project planning. We cannot do the work we do without all of you, and every completed project is a result of your own dedication as well.

We just returned from a six week trip to Colombia where we went to a rural community called Comején. There are about 100 indigenous Wayúu living there, with only a failing windmill and a leaking water distribution system as their sole source of water. The newly formed windmill company from our project in  El Pájaro made necessary repairs and maintenance to the windmill, water storage tanks, and constructed a water basin for the animals, while the community dug trenches for the new water distribution system. They were incredible workers in the heat, and as a result every home in the community now has its own faucet.

This was an incredibly successful project implementation, but unfortunately as we completed the work in Comején, several other communities in desperate need of clean water emerged. We see a lot of the same problems in our work; shallow wells, broken windmill pumps, leaking raised water storage units. For the amount of suffering that arises from using impure water sources, it is amazing how simple and relatively inexpensive repairs or installed technology are all it will take to provide an entire community with clean water and sanitation.

Some of the technologies we are looking at implementing are: solar powered pumps, hand pumps, dry latrines, constructed wetlands, and ceramic filters. These are high-impact, affordable technologies that will increase the health of the communities we work in. We will keep you updated as we roll these out. Speaking of...

We have just undertaken a massive website overhaul and are proud to share photos from our recent projects, and other exciting news from our work. Click here to check it out.

If you have any questions about current or future projects and what you can do to help, explore our new website or feel free to contact us anytime.

Thanks for your support,

Rain Harvesting in Costa Rica

Simón and Sabrina just came back from Costa Rica, where we successfully implemented three rain harvesting systems in the remote community of Barra del Colorado. The project went very well, thanks to the community members, Agua Solutions (a Costa Rican subcontractor) and you, our generous donors and supporters!

The previous water situation in Barra del Colorado was severe. Barra del Colorado is located between the Caribbean Sea and a river that is contaminated river due to banana and pineapple plantations upstream. In addition, the community was built on top of a landfill, which is further contaminating the ground water. Fortunately, the area’s rainfall is an abundant resource at 230" annually. However, the community lacked appropriate rain harvesting systems to take advantage of this resource.

In order to provide the 320 residents of this remote community with clean water, we installed three rain harvesting systems at the local kindergarten, at a church, and at a home. We had the help from many community members, as well as from Alex, a technician from Agua Solutions. To ensure that the captured rainwater remains potable, we included rain heads and first flush diverters (donated by Rain Harvesting) in our systems, as well as closed plastic water tanks from EcoTank.

The community members are very happy about their new clean water supply, especially Claudia, a young mother who lives across from the kindergarten. She said: "Thank you for providing us with clean water. It will help me keep my 2-month old baby boy healthy, because the water I have at my home is dirty and it would make him sick."

These new clean water systems will improve the health and make a real difference in the lives of many local residents, including Claudia and her baby.

In the future, Aguayuda plans to expand this project to provide more clean water to the greater Barra del Colorado community through additional rain harvesting systems.

To see pictures of our exciting project in Costa Rica, please click here.

Thanks for your support,

Access to Drinking Water is Lacking in US Public Schools

Hello everyone,

The issue of access to clean water is not only an issue in developing countries but also in countries like the United States.

Please read the following shocking article about how many children in the United States do not have access to clean water during their school day.

Thirsty Students: Access to Drinking Water is Lacking in Public Schools

The situation in the communities we work with in Colombia, Costa Rica and Cameroon is even worse. They lack access to clean water at home and at school as well as have classes in extremely hot temperatures (95 degrees and above) without air-conditioning and lack the basic resources such as pencils, paper and notebooks. Many children also have to walk long distances (1 hour each way) to get to school on an empty stomach.

If you are interested in helping a school have clean water in Colombia, please check out our

water truck sponsorship program.

Thanks for your interest,

World Water Day and New Aguayuda Videos:

Happy World Water Day!

This World Water Day I will share with you some good news from the Millennium Development Goals Report from the United Nations.

• The number of people who lack safe drinking water is down to 884 million from 1.1 billion in 2006.

• Childhood deaths decreased from 12.6 million in 2007 to 9 million.

• Each dollar invested in safe drinking water and sanitation provides an eight dollar (8:1) return on investment in reduced healthcare costs and time savings.

It is great to see that we are on the right track and are able to reduce the number of people in need of clean water, but there is still much more to be done.

You can be a part of further reducing the number of people who lack clean water and children who die due to water-related illnesses by donating to Aguayuda.

You can also become a sponsor of water deliveries through water trucks for schools and communities in La Guajira, Colombia. To learn more about the schools and communities that participate in our water truck sponsorship program, please watch our new short videos.

Thank you for your support.

Volunteering for Aguayuda

We would like to share with you a short essay by Jack Levenson, a founding Board of Director of Aguayuda, about his volunteer experience with Aguayuda.

“I spent one week at the end of June 2010 combining my passion to help with my energy to discover. It was my first time volunteering onsite with Aguayuda and I had my doubts as to how much could be accomplished in my 5 ½ days in La Guajira, Colombia. I had been told that I would be busy but I didn’t know that meant I’d be able to witness the completion of 3 projects, work in 6 communities, collaborate with community members, local governments, multiple indigenous populations, schools, and other non-profit organizations.

After each full day, no matter how dusty we were or how many miles we had covered on back “roads”, Aguayuda’s leaders’ Sabrina and Simón, made it a point to cap each day off with a walk along the beach and a tall glass of fresh "jugo de Maracuya" (a type of passion fruit juice you just can’t find in the US). That to me was the balance of Aguayuda – a tremendous amount of diverse, hard work but always staying connected to what is special and important to life and to each community. Aguayuda’s network was vast and covered hundreds of miles but each community touched was different and had a unique issue with something special to offer. Everywhere we went children played and often helped as community members worked hand with their environment to create a sustainable future.

We did so much, but one of my favorite moments was in Ramonero as the sun was setting. We had made fixes to and cleaned a water storage tank, and were waiting for the cement to dry on structural changes made to a water basin for the community’s goats and pigs. I had a Frisbee with me and for about a half an hour I played Frisbee with the girls and boys and even a few older community members. It was obvious that this was the first time they had ever played Frisbee. We all smiled and laughed with the pride that we had done something good that day.

Thank you Aguayuda for giving me the opportunity to more than exceed my goals. My passion and energy combined in ways I never would have guessed. I look forward to volunteering for Aguayuda as often as I can in the future.”

Best regards,

Pilot Project in Costa Rica

Aguayuda is excited to report that our first project in 2011 will be in Barra Del Colorado, Costa Rica.

With the technical support of a local Costa Rican company named Agua Solutions; Sabrina, Simón and Maggie, a new volunteer, will go to Barra Del Colorado to implement three rainwater harvesting systems with the community on a school, church and health center.

The pilot project will allow us to demonstrate to the community the viability and benefits of individual rainwater catchment systems. During the implementation of the three systems, we will evaluate the system design and examine the roofs and structural conditions of the homes and buildings in Barra del Colorado. This will help us to properly prepare and coordinate for the main project which would provide a rainwater harvesting system for each household.

The goal of this pilot project is to provide the community with a viable, sustainable and independent alternative solution to their water problem that does not hurt the environment and provides the community with sufficient and safe drinking water for all their daily needs.

Best regards,