By Tom Webber | Project Leader
Fundraising has stalled for BWF's 2018 Andhra Pradesh Project on GlobalGiving. Deep wells that bring safe, clean water to villages of about 1,500 people can be completed for only US$1,800. However BridgIT Water Foundation has been unable to find enough new donors or inspire past contributors during this report period to fund new wells via the GlobalGiving channel. Nevertheless, this GlobalGiving fundraiser will continue in the hope that BWF can raise additional funds to complete more wells in 2018. And thank you so much to our supporters who have allowed us to bring safe, clean water to about 5,000 so far this year via GlobalGiving.
Prevention is a such an important concept in health care, and the deep wells in the villages eliminate risks of water-borne diseases like dysentery, cholera, and diarrhea that are associated with surface water collection and use. This is particular important for children who are at greatest risk for these potentially deadly diseases. Please consider boosting this work by sponsoring an entire village or contributing to another village well.
Despite the temporary dip in this GlobalGiving outreach, BridgIT's work in Andhra Pradesh (and in Uganda) has been buoyed by the humanitarian Richard Guarnuccio's incredible 5,000 km walk from Sorrento (near Melbourne), Australia to Cape York at the northernmost tip of Queensland. Richard identified BridgIT Water Foundation as the beneficiary of his philanthropy because he believes in the cause and he was impressed by the extremely low overhead of this all-volunteer organization. People and companies were impressed that a 53 year-old man could average over 46 km/day (28 miles) over 109 days straight, so they contributed to Richard's "Walk for Water 100". Since he finished the trek on July 22, contributions continue to flow in to support more BWF wells in Uganda and India. Please see the links below.
So far, 6 wells have been completed in Richard's name, including two important wells near Hoima, Uganda that help to protect the Bulindi Chimpanzees from human encroachment into their habitat. With these new wells, the local villagers no longer need to access unsafe surface water they shared with the chimps, which is important for many reasons. BWF's partner Primatologist Dr. Matt McLennan sent out a big "Panthoots!" to Richard for his humanitarian gesture to support these chimps. Please follow the links to learn about BridgIT's Hoima project, which has now built 6 wells to protect the Bulindi chimps. It also supports Dr. Matt's work to expand the forest habitat and forest corridors to save this band of chimpanzees. Thanks to Richard, BridgIT is also currently working on wells at a Ugandan primary school and a Health Centre III that will impact almost 30,000 people.
Walk for Water 100 also raised funds for 2 new wells in Andhra Pradesh, India. Please see photos of the celebration at Venkatapuram Village below, and there is a nice video online (https://bit.ly/2w5JlkR). BridgIT hopes to raise funds to build a total of 30 wells in Andhra Pradesh this year, impacting 45,000 people. Your generosity is greatly appreciated to help us reach this goal.
Thank you so much for your support.
Links:
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