Create Lasting Change for Mothers like Genet

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“I pray we can be preserved from diseases caused as a result of contaminated water.” - Genet

Your gift provides a clean water source, health training, and hope to mothers like Genet living in East Africa and Cambodia.

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Your gift provides a clean water source, health training, and hope to mothers like Genet living in East Africa and Cambodia.

 

Life for Genet

April 2021

 

In the region of Bensa, Ethiopia, families spend an average of 2-5 hours a day collecting water. Most times, this water isn’t even safe to drink.

For many, that time is spent walking, and for others, it’s spent waiting for their turn to fill their containers. Either way, hours of productive time (time that could be spent working or going to school) are lost each week for families in Bensa.

Genet Buta, her husband, and their three children live in Bensa in a village called Mirga Debe. Three times a day, Genet walks for 20 minutes to reach a spring in the forest. When the rains cease each year and that spring dries up, she walks an hour and a half to get water.

Despite the source she uses, there’s never enough water for the day’s needs. And, it makes the children dangerously sick.

“I hope we can be provided with safe water and our problem will be totally avoided,” she said. “I pray we can be preserved from diseases caused as a result of contaminated water.”

With time saved gathering water and newfound health, Genet hopes to not only help her own children through school, but return to school herself!

“I wish, if things are conducive, that I can continue my education from the place I left off before marrying my husband,” she said.

When you give safe water, you end long walks for water for mothers like Genet in the Bensa region of Ethiopia. You give families the opportunity to thrive as God intends.

 

Give Lasting Change

 

Wells and water points installed in developing nations have the same tendency everything has: to break. This is why we have worked hard to find the most sustainable approach to water access.

First, we determine which of five water sources would be most appropriate for the region: Hand dug wells, drilled wells, protected springs, rainwater harvesting tanks, or rehabilitated wells.

Then, we source local materials to construct the water point so that, should something malfunction, repairs are feasible for the community. 

We also train local leaders in water access, sanitation and hygiene practices (WASH). These local influencers travel to each home, helping their neighbors adopt simple, life-saving healthy habits and helping to maintain these habits over time. A local committee monitors use of the water point, collecting small usage fees to save for future repair needs.

Finally, our staff monitors every water point for five years after construction, ensuring the continued flow of safe water.

Our goal is to provide safe water for generations, empowering the local community to maintain it long after we are gone.

You can be a part of sustainable, lasting change. Give today.

Am I sponsoring a specific village?

No, your gift will help provide safe drinking water and improved sanitation and hygiene to women and children living in East Africa and Cambodia.

Will I receive updates?

Yes! You can expect regular updates on the progress of your gift. And, when the communities in the region are transformed with safe water, you’ll receive a story and photos from a family whose life is changed because of your gift.

Can I visit programs and/or my sponsored water project?

Lifewater has local staff that live and serve among the communities and schools where Lifewater works. Our staff know the language and the culture and are best equipped to serve communities. Because we seek to ensure sustainable water projects and community buy in, we do not allow donors to visit the projects they sponsor. However, we do commit to sending real-time updates, photos, and stories from the projects themselves.

Where does Lifewater work?

With more than 40 years’ experience, LIfewater is the longest-running Christian clean water charity in North America. Over those 40 years, Lifewater has worked in more than 45 different countries. Currently, our work is focused in Sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia, Uganda, and Tanzania) and Southeast Asia (Cambodia).

Why these countries and regions?

Lifewater identifies countries and regions that are unreached and underserved with basic water access and sanitation, which means we focus on areas where other organizations are not serving.

Although great strides have been made in the past 20 years to solve the global water crisis, remote and rural populations still remain unreached with adequate water and sanitation. These distant regions are difficult and often costly for governments and NGOs to serve well. Many of these communities feel as though they have been forgotten.

Can I request a water project in a specific country?

Currently, Lifewater has programs in Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, and Cambodia. You can go to lifewater.org/projects to select a specific water project to help. Because our programs are regionalized and made in partnership with the local governments, we are not able to take requests for specific water projects outside of our existing programs.

What percent of funds go towards programs?

Lifewater budgets 80% of expenditures for programs. The remaining 20% is split between administrative/management and fundraising expenses. This ratio is best in class for nonprofits and is why Lifewater has received the highest rating from Charity Navigator.

Administrative/management expenses are used to ensure that we are effective in managing the funds entrusted to us and include the following types of expenses: accounting personnel, leadership time, professional development of staff, external auditors, legal counsel, government registration expenses in every U.S. state, credit card fees for processing donations, bank fees, database maintenance, and office expenses.

Fundraising expenses generate the income needed to do the work that we set out to do. These include the cost of direct mail appeals and communication, marketing projects, donor relations personnel, and email communication systems. Last year, every dollar invested into Lifewater fundraising efforts resulted in $10 of donation for the organization.

Is Lifewater approved/vetted by 3rd party organizations?

Over our 40 year history, Lifewater has received the highest accreditations from the most respected rating organization in the industry. Lifewater is recognized as one of the top-rated charities in the United States by independent reporting organizations, including:

Charity Navigator (four stars)
Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA)
Guidestar (Platinum)
Great Nonprofits (five star)
Excellence in Giving
Learn more at https://lifewater.org/top-rated-charity.

How does Lifewater integrate faith into its work?

Lifewater’s work is founded on the belief that every person is made in the image of God. It is with this conviction that we seek out the globe’s most unreached, marginalized people groups in need of safe water.

Both nationally and internationally, 100 percent of our staff are Christians. These Christian staff help facilitate Lifewater’s Healthy Church strategy in communities. And, where there are no churches, we work with church planting partners to start new churches.

To create Healthy Churches, Lifewater first trains church leaders in foundational theology. These leaders are equipped with the basic story of the Christian faith and the biblical mandate to love others. Leaders learn that stopping the spread of disease and caring for the vulnerable aligns with our responsibility as Christians to love our neighbor.

Second, Lifewater ensures churches have safe bathrooms on their premises, handwashing stations, clean water nearby, and the education to promote health within their congregations. It’s imperative that churches are early adopters of healthy hygiene practices.

Third, Lifewater encourages churches to help vulnerable households become Healthy Homes. Church leaders undergo a training to become WASH (water access, sanitation, and hygiene) advocates in their communities. These advocates are encouraged to identify widows, child-headed households, the elderly, and the disabled to help them meet the health standards of Lifewater’s programs.

What is Lifewater’s process? What does the organization do, and how does it do it?

Lifewater’s Vision of a Healthy Village strategy is a relationship-first method. This model transforms entire regions house by house, village by village, and school by school. It is among the most intensive household-level work happening in the entire developing world and is closely tracked for progress, sustainability, and overall impact.

We construct custom-engineered safe water sources and teach life-saving health and sanitation practices in local villages and schools in need.

Story

Your gift provides a clean water source, health training, and hope to mothers like Genet living in East Africa and Cambodia.

 

Life for Genet

April 2021

 

In the region of Bensa, Ethiopia, families spend an average of 2-5 hours a day collecting water. Most times, this water isn’t even safe to drink.

For many, that time is spent walking, and for others, it’s spent waiting for their turn to fill their containers. Either way, hours of productive time (time that could be spent working or going to school) are lost each week for families in Bensa.

Genet Buta, her husband, and their three children live in Bensa in a village called Mirga Debe. Three times a day, Genet walks for 20 minutes to reach a spring in the forest. When the rains cease each year and that spring dries up, she walks an hour and a half to get water.

Despite the source she uses, there’s never enough water for the day’s needs. And, it makes the children dangerously sick.

“I hope we can be provided with safe water and our problem will be totally avoided,” she said. “I pray we can be preserved from diseases caused as a result of contaminated water.”

With time saved gathering water and newfound health, Genet hopes to not only help her own children through school, but return to school herself!

“I wish, if things are conducive, that I can continue my education from the place I left off before marrying my husband,” she said.

When you give safe water, you end long walks for water for mothers like Genet in the Bensa region of Ethiopia. You give families the opportunity to thrive as God intends.

Give Lasting Change

 

Give Lasting Change

 

Wells and water points installed in developing nations have the same tendency everything has: to break. This is why we have worked hard to find the most sustainable approach to water access.

First, we determine which of five water sources would be most appropriate for the region: Hand dug wells, drilled wells, protected springs, rainwater harvesting tanks, or rehabilitated wells.

Then, we source local materials to construct the water point so that, should something malfunction, repairs are feasible for the community. 

We also train local leaders in water access, sanitation and hygiene practices (WASH). These local influencers travel to each home, helping their neighbors adopt simple, life-saving healthy habits and helping to maintain these habits over time. A local committee monitors use of the water point, collecting small usage fees to save for future repair needs.

Finally, our staff monitors every water point for five years after construction, ensuring the continued flow of safe water.

Our goal is to provide safe water for generations, empowering the local community to maintain it long after we are gone.

You can be a part of sustainable, lasting change. Give today.

FAQ's

Am I sponsoring a specific village?

No, your gift will help provide safe drinking water and improved sanitation and hygiene to women and children living in East Africa and Cambodia.

Will I receive updates?

Yes! You can expect regular updates on the progress of your gift. And, when the communities in the region are transformed with safe water, you’ll receive a story and photos from a family whose life is changed because of your gift.

Can I visit programs and/or my sponsored water project?

Lifewater has local staff that live and serve among the communities and schools where Lifewater works. Our staff know the language and the culture and are best equipped to serve communities. Because we seek to ensure sustainable water projects and community buy in, we do not allow donors to visit the projects they sponsor. However, we do commit to sending real-time updates, photos, and stories from the projects themselves.

Where does Lifewater work?

With more than 40 years’ experience, LIfewater is the longest-running Christian clean water charity in North America. Over those 40 years, Lifewater has worked in more than 45 different countries. Currently, our work is focused in Sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia, Uganda, and Tanzania) and Southeast Asia (Cambodia).

Why these countries and regions?

Lifewater identifies countries and regions that are unreached and underserved with basic water access and sanitation, which means we focus on areas where other organizations are not serving.

Although great strides have been made in the past 20 years to solve the global water crisis, remote and rural populations still remain unreached with adequate water and sanitation. These distant regions are difficult and often costly for governments and NGOs to serve well. Many of these communities feel as though they have been forgotten.

Can I request a water project in a specific country?

Currently, Lifewater has programs in Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, and Cambodia. You can go to lifewater.org/projects to select a specific water project to help. Because our programs are regionalized and made in partnership with the local governments, we are not able to take requests for specific water projects outside of our existing programs.

What percent of funds go towards programs?

Lifewater budgets 80% of expenditures for programs. The remaining 20% is split between administrative/management and fundraising expenses. This ratio is best in class for nonprofits and is why Lifewater has received the highest rating from Charity Navigator.

Administrative/management expenses are used to ensure that we are effective in managing the funds entrusted to us and include the following types of expenses: accounting personnel, leadership time, professional development of staff, external auditors, legal counsel, government registration expenses in every U.S. state, credit card fees for processing donations, bank fees, database maintenance, and office expenses.

Fundraising expenses generate the income needed to do the work that we set out to do. These include the cost of direct mail appeals and communication, marketing projects, donor relations personnel, and email communication systems. Last year, every dollar invested into Lifewater fundraising efforts resulted in $10 of donation for the organization.

Is Lifewater approved/vetted by 3rd party organizations?

Over our 40 year history, Lifewater has received the highest accreditations from the most respected rating organization in the industry. Lifewater is recognized as one of the top-rated charities in the United States by independent reporting organizations, including:

Charity Navigator (four stars)
Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA)
Guidestar (Platinum)
Great Nonprofits (five star)
Excellence in Giving
Learn more at https://lifewater.org/top-rated-charity.

How does Lifewater integrate faith into its work?

Lifewater’s work is founded on the belief that every person is made in the image of God. It is with this conviction that we seek out the globe’s most unreached, marginalized people groups in need of safe water.

Both nationally and internationally, 100 percent of our staff are Christians. These Christian staff help facilitate Lifewater’s Healthy Church strategy in communities. And, where there are no churches, we work with church planting partners to start new churches.

To create Healthy Churches, Lifewater first trains church leaders in foundational theology. These leaders are equipped with the basic story of the Christian faith and the biblical mandate to love others. Leaders learn that stopping the spread of disease and caring for the vulnerable aligns with our responsibility as Christians to love our neighbor.

Second, Lifewater ensures churches have safe bathrooms on their premises, handwashing stations, clean water nearby, and the education to promote health within their congregations. It’s imperative that churches are early adopters of healthy hygiene practices.

Third, Lifewater encourages churches to help vulnerable households become Healthy Homes. Church leaders undergo a training to become WASH (water access, sanitation, and hygiene) advocates in their communities. These advocates are encouraged to identify widows, child-headed households, the elderly, and the disabled to help them meet the health standards of Lifewater’s programs.

What is Lifewater’s process? What does the organization do, and how does it do it?

Lifewater’s Vision of a Healthy Village strategy is a relationship-first method. This model transforms entire regions house by house, village by village, and school by school. It is among the most intensive household-level work happening in the entire developing world and is closely tracked for progress, sustainability, and overall impact.

We construct custom-engineered safe water sources and teach life-saving health and sanitation practices in local villages and schools in need.

Your gift reflects your trust in Lifewater International. We commit to honor your generosity by using your gift to help further the mission and vision of Lifewater International. Your donation is used by Lifewater International according to the project objectives to provide safe drinking water and improved sanitation and hygiene. Lifewater International is a charitable organization as described in 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, registered in the United States. All donations are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law.

Donations are non-refundable. Lifewater International will honor a donor’s request for any pre-approved program or project whenever possible. In rare occasions where this is not possible, gifts will be used where needed, in accordance with the organization’s charitable purpose. In accordance with this policy, donor’s explicitly release Lifewater International from further restriction on such funds.