Friendly Water for the World February 2021 newsletter

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Subject: Friendly Water for the World February 2021 newsletter

Welcome to the February issue of our monthly newsletter.

For many of us, 2021 seemed to start much as 2020 ended - not very well. But things are looking up. Pandemic infection numbers are decreasing, vaccines are increasing, and some stability and hope are starting to appear. Our programs are picking up the pace as the first technology out of our Kakamega Water Center is now being produced in the community of Matsakha. And there were smiles all around when Noah arrived in Kambiri. We are starting to believe in the new year. This month, don't miss stories about:

Meet Noah
Make A Plan For Sustainability
Multipurpose Soap Is Cleaning up
Chat about Rainwater Catchment Tanks
February 16th Board of Directors Meeting

If you haven't read our newsletter the last few months, you'll notice one big format change - our long-form features are being hosted on our website under the News page. That means this email will include key information and story introductions. If you are interested and want to read the whole story, just click the Read More link and you'll be taken to our website. In the future, if you ever want to catch up on something from the past or present, all you need to do is visit https://friendlywater.org/news.

We hope you enjoy the updates. If you have any suggestions on how to improve our monthly newsletter or have ideas for stories to include, please contact will@friendlywater.org.

Until our next Chat, our next newsletter, or whenever we are fortunate enough to see each other again. Please be safe and kind to others.

-Will, on behalf of our community of staff, volunteers, and supporters

Meet Noah

Eric's father driving Toyota Noah minivan

Who wore it better?

The Academy Awards may be approaching, but our new Africa Programs Toyota Noah Minivan has surely created the biggest red carpet face-off of the season. Who wore our new Toyota better - Eric Lijodi, our Africa Programs Manager who went with a casual weekend Dad vibe or his father who went with the sharp suit and power tie? I think it's a no-contest.

Three five-thousand dollar donations from Greg and Mary Ellen Psaltis; Kathleen O'Shaunessy; and an anonymous donor made this goal rapidly attainable....

We are incredibly grateful for three $5,000 donations, one each from Greg and Mary Ellen Psaltis; Kathleen O'Shaunessy; and an anonymous donor for funding the purchase of our new van. It's a great new technology for us and will help Eric and the team build and expand our Water Technology Center in Kakamega. As borders start to reopen, we'll be able to not just reach communities faster, but will be able to bring equipment with us. The minivan will hold at least a couple of Interlocking Stabilized Soil Brick presses.

The Toyota, following custom, was also blessed by a local church. I think in the middle of the global Covid pandemic we can use all the blessings we are offered. We wish great speed (but not too much) to Eric and Noah. May their trips be safe and their fuel be cheap.

Make A Plan For Sustainability

Lather, rinse, repeat. Or as we might say, WASH, rinse, repeat (WASH being Water and Sanitation, Hygiene). Three easy steps. If only every plan was so simple. Planning is something we have been spending a lot of time thinking about over the last couple of years. We discovered that all the effort spent in planning, producing, marketing, selling, distributing, accounting for, and reporting on technology, is at least as important as the technology itself. Probably much more so. Our technologies are used to meet basic human needs...

>> Read the whole story

Multipurpose Soap is Cleaning Up

There is nothing like starting a new year with new opportunities. Especially when the old year was dominated by a global pandemic. In early January seven members of the Matsakha Development Group (MDG) Production Committee were trained by Ezra Kigondu to produce liquid soap. They weighed and poured and mixed and bottled over 400 liters of soap – we’ll call the color Matsakha blue. They named their soap Meta (which means Bright in the local dialect). And they have already sold over 200 liters of it for 12000 KSh (Kenya Shillings).

>> Read the whole story

Chat about Rainwater Catchment Tanks

Women in Sub-Saharan Africa spend 16 million hours every day collecting water. Every. Day. How can someone create a better future for themselves if they don’t have access to the most fundamental of all resources? It’s a big problem that will probably require many solutions. We have a solution that can scale, uses mostly local resources for construction (including our bricks), and can fit a house or a village or anywhere there is a roof. We like roofs. Come Chat with us about Rainwater Catchment Tanks and see how they are creating water security and resilience.

>> Register for the Chat

Last month our partners and community members in Matsakha, Kenya joined us to Chat about Multipurpose Soap. And to tell us they've already sold hundreds of liters of their new Meta Soap. It's our biggest soap program yet with plans to be nationally certified and grow beyond their community. After you've read this month's article about Multipurpose Soap, make sure you watch the Chat.

>> Watch Chat about Multipurpose Soap

February Board Meeting

The Friendly Water for the World Board Meeting is OPEN to the public.

On Tuesday, February 16th at 4:30pm, we will be hosting our next meeting online again with a Zoom call. We want everyone to have the opportunity to participate, especially now when most of us are physically distancing at home. To join us, register below. After registering you'll be sent an email with a link to the meeting. If you don't see the email, please check your SPAM folder and if you

If you have any difficulties joining, please contact will@friendlywater.org.

>> Register for the Board Meeting

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Subject: Friendly Water for the World February 2021 newsletter