End Long Walks to Water for Young Mothers like Pendo

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“An accessible, safe water supply in our village will be a solution to many community problems.” - Pendo

Tanzania

GPS: 6.3690, 34.8888
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Your gift will provide clean water and improved health for families in Tanzania.

 

Pendo’s Life in Shinyanga, Tanzania

July 2021

 

In rural Shinyanga, Tanzania water is scarce. Forty three percent of the population does not have access to safe water. Children in particular are exposed to preventable diseases that clean water and sanitation could eliminate.

When Pendo kneels down at the pond to fill her water container, she tries to avoid scooping up the leeches and other pests that inhabit the water source.

Even so, the water is a muddy brown color and it still carries bacteria that make Pendo’s family sick.

In addition, this water source is over an hour away from Pendo’s village of Iponyamagezui. She and her four children make at least four trips for water every day, which takes six hours total.
When the rains cease, it becomes even more difficult.

“In the dry season it becomes more challenging because the wells dry up,” said Pendo. “Therefore, we have to look for water in unprotected sources far beyond our village.”

This takes even more time and energy for a family that is already struggling to gather adequate water.

“During the dry season it takes almost four hours to go and return from farther afield,” stated Pendo.

Pendo would like to have more time and water for farming, so that she and her family could have more food to eat and to sell for income.

Even more importantly, a source of clean water in Iponyamagezui village would mean that the children would be healthier and stop missing school due to waterborne illnesses.

“An accessible, safe water supply in our village will be a solution to many community problems,” declared Pendo.

When you give safe water, you give to families just like Pendo’s.
You bring health, hope, and opportunity to families in great need, ending long walks for water.

 

About Tanzania

 

Tanzania is home to 60 million people. Almost half of them do not have access to safe drinking water. 

But, it’s not just about a lack of basic access to safe water. In Tanzania, over 43 million do not practice proper sanitation. That’s the majority of people living in the country.

Together, water, sanitation, and hygiene are referred to as “WASH,” and Tanzania is experiencing a WASH crisis. WASH impacts not only community health, but economic status, access to education, and happiness around the world.

Lifewater aims to reach communities with the greatest need for safe water and improved sanitation and hygiene access.

Related to the water and sanitation challenges in Tanzania, 12% of people go to the bathroom outside in the open since they don’t have a toilet. 

In these communities, human feces are washed by the rain into rivers, springs, ponds, and swamps—places where many people gather their drinking water. This creates an unsafe environment, especially for children.

The good news is, this is entirely preventable. Lifewater’s work shows that waterborne illness can be nearly eliminated with basic access to things like clean drinking water, proper sanitation, and washing hands with soap.

Give safe water to Tanzania 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 45 years’ experience, Lifewater is the longest-running Christian clean water charity in North America. Over those 45 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 will provide clean water and improved health for families in Tanzania.

 

Pendo’s Life in Shinyanga, Tanzania

July 2021

 

In rural Shinyanga, Tanzania water is scarce. Forty three percent of the population does not have access to safe water. Children in particular are exposed to preventable diseases that clean water and sanitation could eliminate.

When Pendo kneels down at the pond to fill her water container, she tries to avoid scooping up the leeches and other pests that inhabit the water source.

Even so, the water is a muddy brown color and it still carries bacteria that make Pendo’s family sick.

In addition, this water source is over an hour away from Pendo’s village of Iponyamagezui. She and her four children make at least four trips for water every day, which takes six hours total.
When the rains cease, it becomes even more difficult.

“In the dry season it becomes more challenging because the wells dry up,” said Pendo. “Therefore, we have to look for water in unprotected sources far beyond our village.”

This takes even more time and energy for a family that is already struggling to gather adequate water.

“During the dry season it takes almost four hours to go and return from farther afield,” stated Pendo.

Pendo would like to have more time and water for farming, so that she and her family could have more food to eat and to sell for income.

Even more importantly, a source of clean water in Iponyamagezui village would mean that the children would be healthier and stop missing school due to waterborne illnesses.

“An accessible, safe water supply in our village will be a solution to many community problems,” declared Pendo.

When you give safe water, you give to families just like Pendo’s.
You bring health, hope, and opportunity to families in great need, ending long walks for water.

Tanzania

 

About Tanzania

 

Tanzania is home to 60 million people. Almost half of them do not have access to safe drinking water. 

But, it’s not just about a lack of basic access to safe water. In Tanzania, over 43 million do not practice proper sanitation. That’s the majority of people living in the country.

Together, water, sanitation, and hygiene are referred to as “WASH,” and Tanzania is experiencing a WASH crisis. WASH impacts not only community health, but economic status, access to education, and happiness around the world.

Lifewater aims to reach communities with the greatest need for safe water and improved sanitation and hygiene access.

Related to the water and sanitation challenges in Tanzania, 12% of people go to the bathroom outside in the open since they don’t have a toilet. 

In these communities, human feces are washed by the rain into rivers, springs, ponds, and swamps—places where many people gather their drinking water. This creates an unsafe environment, especially for children.

The good news is, this is entirely preventable. Lifewater’s work shows that waterborne illness can be nearly eliminated with basic access to things like clean drinking water, proper sanitation, and washing hands with soap.

Give safe water to Tanzania 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 45 years’ experience, Lifewater is the longest-running Christian clean water charity in North America. Over those 45 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 within the specified program area. 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.