Friendly Water's💧 - April thru mid-May 2023 Newsletter 🌍

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Subject: Friendly Water's💧 - April thru mid-May 2023 Newsletter 🌍

Our April thru mid-May Newsletter

Why we are here

The key to our success at Friendly Water is that we work together, but who is the "we"?

Is it the school without water? A community without jobs? A non-profit with ideas? Service groups with plans? Donors with the desire to help build a better world?

Yes, to all those, and it's a yes to all who want to be a part of something bigger than today, more lasting than yesterday, and more meaningful than what you can accomplish alone.

"Working together" is more than a catchphrase or an idea, it's a commitment. It's a statement of our intention. It's a promise that we will walk alongside one another until our journey is complete.

But, how do we make these words real?

Cross-training in Kambiri

This April and early May, we brought together many members of the three Community Based Organizations we helped found in Matsakha, Kambiri and our newest partners from Vigulu. Together, Forty-one Masons, Assistant Masons, Water Tenders, ISSB (Brick) makers, Sifters, and Trainees gathered in Kambiri to share knowledge, to learn, and to bond with one another. The work is labor intensive so we were proud that eleven women were part of this training.

Twenty days later, the three community based organizations had produced over 10,000 Interlocking Stabilized Soil Blocks (ISSB) and completed a 25,000-liter Rainwater Catchment Tank (one of five to be built that month). Each team returned home as better masons, better teachers, better friends, and better equipped to undertake the work in front of us.

The final part of our teambuilding and cross-training was to outfit all team members with safety gear: steel-toed boots, hardhats, gloves and reflective vests. Now these teams stand out and stand together; well-trained members of their communities working together to make a difference!

Annual Community Engagement

Every Community Based Organization we've helped to start has about twenty members, these are the soap makers, the masons, the brick makers, the soap marketers, the secretary, treasurer, and chair. These folks are the backbone of the work that we undertake in the community- but they're not the whole community. So, each year we invite about 10 representatives (farmers, homemakers, salespeople, laborers) from each village (usually 6-10 villages per community) plus the Chief, the Asst. Chief, the clan leaders, the elders, the teachers, ministers, and the community health workers to all get together and tell us how we're doing. It's about 150 folks, and we spend the entire day listening.

We held our Annual Community Engagement (ACE) with the Matsakha Community this past April 17th. This was the third Community Engagement for Matsakha, the first (which takes a week) was held in 2020. We skipped 2021 due to the pandemic, hosted the second in 2022, and now we have completed our third, and it tells a story about the work we do, together.

There was a line to get in, it was a full-house, with a number of break-out groups. Everyone who wanted to speak was heard.

We use this time to gain knowledge, gain experience, and gain a better understanding of why we have joined together to undertake this work.

And what went well? We built 550,000 liters of Water Security in Matsakha in 2022, along with 30,000 ISSB bricks, and continued to market our KEBS (Kenya Bureau of Standards) certified soap.

What could be done better? More trainings. CBO leadership needs to be diversified with a focus on succession planning. Greater outreach to folks who aren't members of the CBO. Better communication between the CBO, Friendly Water, and community leadership.

Key words were: Inclusion, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Partners, Training, Sharing, Transparency, and Honesty.

Commitments were made to reach out to more youth, to hold leadership accountable for failures and responsible for successes, and to work closer with women's groups.

On June 7th, we will be conducting our ACE with the Kambiri Community. Joining Programs Manager Eric Lijodi, Asst. Programs Manager Ezra Kigondu, and Asst. Programs Manager Joy Luganda will be Voscar Amoro from the Kenyan Women Enterprise Fund (table-banking experts). Also participating will be Friendly Water Board Chair Connie Vasek, Board Director Imali Abala, Finance Manager Heather Avery, and Executive Director Curt Andino.

The Bigger Picture

The work we do is fairly simple, but we work with people so it's also fairly complex. Of course, we do this work because of people who, like all of us, are trying to live the best lives possible while navigating life's daily challenges.

And so we carry out our efforts: working towards increased education and knowledge transfer; sustainable agriculture and food security; improved health and sanitation; economic empowerment; more partnerships; better community participation and empowerment; and, now more than ever, climate change adaptation.

When we look at all these objectives together, our mission and goals become clear. We - you, me, everyone of good intention and thoughtful action - are working toward a greater purpose: Preserving the Continuity of Village Life. Half the population of the slums outside Nairobi (some of the world's largest) are made up of people who have found village life unsustainable because of the absence of those very things we are trying to maintain and expand.

Our work is about more than any one village: it is about every village and every villager who faces an uncertain future in a slum or as a refugee.

Of course, we are not the only organization trying to do this work, which is good because working together is the only way we will solve the challenges destroying village life.

And on that note...

Remembering Bob Schneck

Bob and his wife Cora Fung

If you ever wanted to feel excitement through a phone line, you only had to call Bob Schneck. Bob passed away on May 15th from multiple myeloma caused by exposure to toxic debris from 9/11. Bob and Friendly Water only worked together for a couple of years as we offered some logistical support to his efforts to bring light to Western Kenya through a nonprofit he started called WestLight. Bob's passion was people, something he took to the Peace Corps in Kenya and the Teachers Corps in Wash. D.C. Despite his illness, his desire to bring about positive change persevered. We, of Friendly Water, found his energy empowering, his excitement infectious, and his intentions inspiring. For those of us who only knew Bob through the phone line or the Zoom call he was a pleasure to work with. For those who knew him as a friend or husband his absence must be resounding, our kindest thoughts are with you. Safe travels, friend.

Your support is the only way this work gets done.

Thank you!

friendlywater.org

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Subject: Friendly Water's💧 - April thru mid-May 2023 Newsletter 🌍