Germany Trip 2012

In our latest Aguayuda presentation, which we presented 9 times in Germany recently I realize I (Simón) made one mistake. In the presentation, I mentioned that Colombia became my second home when I found my biological family in 2005 but actually I always had two countries before 2005 that I could call home: USA and Germany. Having been raised by German parents and visiting Germany almost every year to see my relatives; Germany has played an important role in my life. Besides my German relatives, the language, culture and traditions have had a strong influence of who I am. The fact that my wife (Sabrina) is German makes Germany even more special. Being in Germany again for a few weeks was a great time because it allowed us to share our excellent progress with Aguayuda and also reconnect with family and friends as well as meet new people.

Thank you German Club, family and friends in Germany for believing in us and supporting our mission. Your generous support and kindness makes us already looking forward to our next trip back to Germany next year.

Best regards,

Networking for Good - Aguayuda Event

We had our first event with Networking for Good at Paolo’s Ristorante in Reston, Virginia on the 21st of February. It was a wonderful success. 122 people came to the networking event, which provided Aguayuda with a great platform to share our mission with a new audience. We met many fascinating people who are interested in supporting us in many areas including fundraising and graphic design. Thanks to Networking for Good’s unique networking events, this evening provided the attendees with an opportunity to meet new people while supporting a worthy charity. The event was a big success because Networking for Good organized everything including generous sponsors, a suitable venue, delicious food, free massages, prizes, and a sound system. Through their publicity via social media channels and supporters the event was well visited by professionals with interest in philanthropy. Thank you Networking for Good for a super networking event!

Colombia Trip 2012

Our latest trip to Colombia may have been one of the most important trips for Aguayuda. We have set the foundation to assure that the 12 communities (over 4,000 people) we are helping through clean water will be sustainable for many years by having 3 new Colombian members (Daut, Victor and Franklin) join our Aguayuda team. These new members provide a permanent base in La Guajira, Colombia where the majority of our projects are located. They have the essential job of monitoring our current projects, evaluating new communities and creating alliances with local foundations, companies and government entities.

We also have 3 Colombian interns (Verónica, Maria Paula and Natalia) support our mission. They are helping us in many areas including conducting community surveys, testing and evaluating various household water solutions, and completing the water storage tank project in Orrokot as well as the constructed wetland project in Ramonero. Their energy, passion and high quality results are a huge help for Aguayuda.

Aguayuda is a small non-profit organization and it is an amazing feeling to see Aguayuda organically grow in a way that will allow us to help many more communities in the future as well as continue to support the current communities.

To view our latest photos from the Colombia trip, please click here.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter:

Hello everyone,

We leave for our trip to Colombia on the 20th of January. For the first time, we will share our experiences of the trip on a daily basis through Facebook and Twitter. Be sure to visit these sites to learn more about our trip and what we are doing. We are very excited to be able to revisit our past projects and to implement a new project in Orrokot, Colombia.

We hope everyone is having a great start to the new year!

Best regards,

Thank you Sam Horn and Matt Rutlin:

Hello everyone,

One of the nicest experiences while establishing and growing Aguayuda is all the wonderful people we have met along the journey.

In late October we met Sam Horn, an internationally-respected communication strategist, and Matt Rutlin, a videographer from MattNova Productions.
Since then they have provided generous integral support to improving our latest Aguayuda presentation that we showed at the 5-year anniversary presentation on December 1, 2011.

On the 14th of January, we were invited by Sam Horn as guests to attend her “Want to Turn Your Passion and Purpose into a Paying Profession?” workshop. We even were given the opportunity to talk to 100 people about our passion - Aguayuda - and how it came about and what we do. It was a great event where we were able to meet many interesting and good people doing great things in many areas. During the event, we supported Matt Rutlin in filming the event and taking photos.

We are honored to have Matt film our next fundraising event on the 21st of February at Paolo's Ristorante in Reston, Virgina with the support of Networking for Good. Please register at: http://networkingforgood.com/events/february-2012-aguayuda/

Thank you Sam and Matt for providing us wonderful support to our mission to provide clean water and education to poor rural communities in developing countries.

Best regards,

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,

Happy New Year!

2010 was a very successful year for Aguayuda. Our three completed projects in Colombia from 2009 are still operating and providing access to water to 1,500 people.

Our water truck sponsorship program is providing water to 2 schools and 4 communities in La Guajira, Colombia. These water trucks provide clean water to 800 students and 1,350 people.

2011 will be an extremely busy year for us. Sabrina and Simón will only be working two days a week for Caloris Engineering and will be able to devote much more time to Aguayuda.

Some of the major objectives in 2011 include:

• Create strategic and business plan
• Design new education manual template
• Create four new educational manuals
• Implement projects in Colombia, Costa Rica and Cameroon
• Fundraise, fundraise and fundraise! : )

If anyone is interested in volunteering for Aguayuda, please check out our new volunteer opportunity page below and sign up.

www.lotsahelpinghands.com/c/635361/

Thank you to everyone who supported us over the years. We could not have done it without your generous support.

We wish you a healthy and prosperous 2011.

Best regards,

Support from ERM, Grace Lutheran and CR:

We received a $10,000 grant from the "ERM Foundation-North America" for the Bankondji, Cameroon project. If you would like to learn more about the project, you can click here. This grant brings us closer to implementing Phase I of the project in 2011. Phase I consists of 2 wells including hand pumps, which will provide safe drinking water to 2,500 people and a health center in Bankondji.

We also received a generous donation of $500 from the Grace Lutheran Church in Easton, Maryland. This money was used to build a laundry washing station in Ramonero in La Gaujira, Colombia. More info can be found here.

Lastly, Aguayuda was interviewed by Colombia Reports, which is an excellent resource for colombian news in English. The interview can be read here.

Aguayuda thanks the ERM Foundation, Grace Lutheran Church, Colombia Reports and many generous donors that are helping Aguayuda provide access to safe drinking water for people in rural communities.

Take care,

Welcome to Aguayuda’s Blog!

The goal of this blog is to inform people on events related to our non-profit organization called Aguayuda as well as fascinating stories and news connected to water, sanitation, education and the environment.

Since Aguayuda was established in 2006, we have observed how water is becoming a bigger problem all over the world. This affects not only developing countries but also countries like the United States.

According to a report by Tetra Tech for the Natural Resources Defense Council, over 1,100 cities across the United States may face water shortages by 2050.

Here is a list of ten U.S. cities with the highest risk of water shortages in the near future.

1. Los Angeles, CA

2. Houston, TX

3. Phoenix, AZ

4. San Antonio, TX

5. San Francisco Bay Area, CA

6. Fort Worth, TX

7. Las Vegas, NV

8. Tucson, AZ

9. Atlanta, GA

10. Orlando, FL

Though Aguayuda’s services will not be required just yet in the United States, it is important that we become aware of the issues we are facing regarding water and do something about it.

Here are 100 ways to get started.

Take care,