by Fern Shaw | May 31, 2016 | Charity, Christian Aid, water cooler, Water Coolers
It’s not often that I can say that I’m truly overwhelmed. I may drama queen a little about being overwhelmed but that’s not often the case.
What I did find truly overwhelming was my recent nine day visit to Ethiopia at the behest of AquAid and at the invitation of a charity which AquAid have for years supported; Christian Aid.
Having worked in water provision and in close conjunction with the charities that AquAid support for a few years now, this is a matter that has taken on a great significance to me, as well as, I’m sure, everyone at AquAid. I’ve experienced daily how important it is to balance the business side as well as maintaining and perpetuating Paul Searle’s (AquAid’s founder) holistic philosophy of giving back. On the trip, though, I experienced this philosophy first hand.
Ethiopia is a magnificent country, that’s the only way that I can describe it. The Ethiopians are among the kindest, most hospitable and polite people I’ve met in my travels; the country is vast, the scenery is awe inspiring and the industriousness of the people is truly something to witness.
After a briefing at the Christian Aid offices in Addis Ababa, we departed on the first leg of our journey to visit the first of four projects in the south of the country. As our amazing driver, Girma, who would put any F1 driver to shame, negotiated his way through an endless progression of pedestrians, other road users which also included herds of cattle; sheep and goats as well as donkey, mule and horse carts, I observed something interesting. Every mile or so there were people walking. Not a gentle lollygagging type of walk, but walking with determination. Most were carrying yellow containers. Many of these people were very young children, some who looked to be no older than seven or eight years old.
When we passed a puddle on the side of the road, a river, a stream, there were people collecting water. I have no idea how many miles these people walked every day, but I imagine it was a good few miles at least. They shared the puddles with all manner of others including animals. These puddles were open to the elements, unprotected and quite a few puddles alongside certain stretches of road had all the detritus from the road and its passing traffic landing in them.
- The magnitude of what I was witnessing struck me – here is a country that has water in abundance (Ethiopia has more vast lakes than you can shake a stick at), but a large majority of its inhabitants live and work hundreds of miles away from these large sources of water. They are dependent on the weather – their water source more often than not from the rainfall; and the country experiences dry months for eight out of the twelve months of the year.
- This is where charities such as Christian Aid come in and have been doing so in the country since 1998 when they set up an office in Addis Ababa. Christian Aid and AquAid have been working in partnership since 2001, bringing relief and sustainable water provision to those in need around the globe.
We witnessed five such projects during our trip which I will detail in further articles, but having being there, the importance of having water or indeed, having access to water, truly struck home. Here were thousands of people to whom the struggle for water, stuff of life, wasn’t a turn of a tap or a press of a button away. Here, having water meant a day to day survival, where if you wanted water, you strapped plastic containers to yourself and you started walking, for miles and miles, looking for the precious stuff. You may get ‘lucky’ and find a big enough water puddle from which you could fill your containers, often you would not.
What also occurred to me (during and post trip) is how invaluable it is to have companies such as AquAid and even more invaluable – our customers who support AquAid. Because I truly witnessed the results of what charity means. For every person from each community that we visited who had water to drink, water to cook with, water to water their livestock and their crops, this was a direct result of donations to charity. Life changing stuff.
If you’d like to find out more about how your water cooler and bottled water purchases can make a difference to people’s lives (and I mean this literally), please get in contact. We’d love to hear from you.
by Fern Shaw | May 4, 2016 | Charity, Christian Aid
Ethiopia is without a doubt one of the most fascinating countries on the African continent. It has an incredibly ancient and cultural history and is believed to be (by some) to be a cradle of civilisation and the birthplace of Christianity.
Addis Ababa is Ethiopia’s capital city. It means ‘white flower’ and, at 2 400 m above sea level, it is the 4th highest capital city in the world.
The Great Rift Valley cuts through Ethiopia from northeast to south of the country and is the only physical feature of Africa that it visible from space.
According to legend, the True Cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified was found by St. Helena – the mother of Constantine the Great, the Roman Emperor who converted to Christianity – in the 4th century. A relic of that cross was later given to Ethiopia’s kings for protecting Coptic Christians in their country. Meskel celebrates the arrival of the True Cross in Ethiopia and has been celebrated there for more than 1,600 years.
Ethiopia is considered the originator of honey wine, or t’ej, which the rest of the world knows as mead.
More than 70% of Africa’s mountains are found in Ethiopia. It is sometimes called ‘the roof of Africa.’
Ethiopia was the first African nation to join the League of Nations.
The Garima Gospels, the oldest illustrated Christian book, is in Ethiopia. It was written about A.D. 494 by the Abba Garima, a monk who arrived in Ethiopia from Constantinople (present-day Istanbul). According to legend, he wrote the book in one day.
Ethiopia is home to the Black Jews, known as the Falashas or Beta Israel (House of Israel). Various legends claim they are a lost tribe of Israel or descendants of King Solomon.
Coffee was first discovered by an Ethiopian goat herder named Kaldi in the Kaffa region, from which the word ‘coffee’ may derive, when he noticed his goats ‘dancing’ after eating the berries off the coffee plant. Coffee is the top agricultural export for 12 countries, with the livelihood of over 100 million people depending on its production, and it is the world’s second most valuable commodity after petroleum.
Emperors ruled Ethiopia until 1974 and all claim to be descendants of King Solomon of the Bible and Makeda (Ethiopian Queen of Sheba). Haile Selassie I was the last Ethiopian emperor.
Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie I is considered the son of God among the followers of the Jamaican Rastafaria religion. In fact, the name ‘Rastafari’ originates from the emperor’s birthplace, Ras Tafari, which means ‘Prince Tafari’ in Amharic. Bob Marley was one well-known Rastafari. Although the Rastafari movement did evolve in Jamaica, it began in Ethiopia.
The Abyssinian cat breed, which originated in Ethiopia, ranks within the top ten most popular pedigreed cat breed in the U.K.
Lucy, a human fossil believed to have existed over 3 million years ago, was found in the Great Rift Valley in Ethiopia in 1974. She was named after the Beatles’ song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, which was playing on the radio at the time she was found. Even older remains were found in Hadar in 2001. Dated at more than 5 million years old, they are the earliest known ancestors of modern humans.
Christian Aid is an organisation that provides urgent, practical and effective assistance where need is great, tackling the effects of poverty as well as its root causes. The organisation has been providing assistance and relief in Ethiopia for decades and AquAid continue to be one of Christian Aid’s main corporate sponsors, especially with a view to water provision projects in Ethiopia and other countries in need.
by Fern Shaw | Sep 15, 2015 | Water
Here at AquAid, we’ve always believed that an integral part of good business practice is helping those less fortunate – especially those far flung communities in Third World countries.
This philosophy was put into effect by ensuring that a portion of proceeds from all sales of our water cooler products was donated to sustainable charities such as Christian Aid and The Africa Trust.
The Africa Trust itself has gone from strength to strength – with more than 5,000 water wells, known as Elephant Pumps, built throughout Africa since 1998.
Building the Elephant Pumps has taken the teams from Zimbabwe, Uganda, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, and Liberia where these wells now provide potable water for millions of people.
The original Elephant Pump is suitable for high levels of usage and also for deep water tables. Although the aim is for one pump to be for around 300 beneficiaries per pump, in some cases many more people end up using a single pump.
But what happens when you enter regions where the water table is not that deep or the community is smaller? If you’re Ian Thorpe, CE of The Africa Trust and inventor of The Elephant Pump, you design an alternative.
So, without further ado, we introduce *trumpet* to you the ‘Baby’ Elephant Pump.
- This smaller pump has recently been introduced in in a trial project in Mozambique, where there are areas where the communities are more dispersed with small clusters of families.
- A pump which lifts water only 5-10 metres and serves just 50 or 100 people doesn’t need to be built with such robust materials such as is the case with the original ‘parent’ Elephant Pump, hence the design and building of the Baby Elephant Pump.
- The design is cheaper and has been developed for individual homesteads rather schools or villages therefore the smaller pump costs less than half the cost of the more robust village model of Elephant Pump.
If you would like to find out about sponsoring the building of one of these pumps without any additional cost to you*, please contact Shelly or call 01223 508 109 – we’ll be delighted to assist you.
*This offer is only available to AquAid customers.
by Fern Shaw | Jul 22, 2015 | aquaid tyne wear, Charity, Christian Aid, Water Coolers
The Swimming Scuba Diver
One of the aspects of working in the marketing and social media sphere that I really enjoy is getting to ‘know’ some of the many people that work at AquAid. To date, I’ve ‘met’ a serious traveller – Josh; a carer of animals and Tough Man competitor – Scott; a stand-up comedian – Martin; a Super Dad – Ross; and a Ninja – Dennis.
Last week, I spoke to Emir Dobson, franchisee at AquAid Middlesborough and asked her if she would be kind enough to put pen to paper and despite being rather busy, she graciously took the time out to answer my questions.
I was so tickled with her replies as I again realised that the individuals that work at AquAid really are quite a mixed bag and full of surprises – who knew that AquAid Middlesborough boast their very own scuba diver? So, without further ado, here’s what Emir had to share, pretty much verbatim:
Name: Emir Dobson
Role at AquAid: Manager – AquAid Tyne & Wear
Years at AquAid: Too long.
What do you enjoy about your job? The people we meet!
Tell us something interesting about yourself: Achievements: Working alongside my husband in all these years without a major incident!!!
How did you get involved with AquAid? I became involved in AquAid due to my connection with Christian Aid – I am passionate about the work that they do – my contribution is through donations.
Hobbies: Keeping with the water theme – I enjoy swimming and scuba diving.
What is it about swimming and scuba diving that you enjoy so much? I enjoy water… swimming and scuba diving keep you fit, they’re good for you…
When do you do the above? Enjoy diving as often as I can.
Why do you do it? It’s good fun and the people are great criag.
I enjoy diving anywhere there is water. In the North Sea, the wrecks are good and the sea fish.
In warmer climates – every dive is different; you see different fish, coral, wrecks – its good fun.
How long have you been involved with this? About 10 years.
Claim to fame – Just being alive!
What are you hoping to achieve or to do in the future? As soon as the family have moved out of the family home – my husband and I are going to travel – Thailand; Africa; USA.
Notes: No matter what happens – we are all the same – we eat, sleep, and breathe … the same. x
Thank you Emir, so interesting how water plays such a huge part in your life, from both a business and personal perspective. I wish you many good dives and lots of criag!
by Fern Shaw | Mar 30, 2015 | Water
It would seem that ancient methods are best when it comes to saving water in a ‘Modern Age’.
*Recently, The Stockholm Water Prize was awarded to Rajendra Singh, who is known as the ‘Water Man of India’. Rajendra’s methods have brought water to over a thousand villages in the country.
The judges of the prize say his methods have also prevented floods, restored soil and rivers, and brought back wildlife. They also maintained that his technique is cheap, simple, and that his ideas should be followed worldwide.
Rajendra uses a modern version of the ancient Indian technique of rainwater harvesting.
It involves building low-level banks of earth to hold back the flow of water in the wet season and allow water to seep into the ground for future use.
Rajendra first trained as a medic, but when he took up a post in a rural village in arid Rajasthan he was told the greatest need was not health care but drinking water.
Groundwater had been sucked dry by farmers, and as water disappeared, crops failed, rivers, forests and wildlife disappeared and people left for the towns.
“When we started our work, we were only looking at the drinking water crisis and how to solve that,” Mr Singh said.
“Today our aim is higher. This is the century of exploitation, pollution and encroachment. To stop all this, to convert the war on water into peace, that is my life’s goal.”
Similarly, on another continent, adaptations to an ancient manual water pump made using readily available and replaceable materials has ensured that the fondly named ‘Elephant Pump’ has been bringing safe potable water to villages and communities throughout Africa for more than 10 years.
Ian Thorpe, co-founder of The Africa Trust, was awarded the prestigious St Andrews Medal for the Environment in 2005 and The Elephant Pump received the World Bank Development Marketplace award for Water, Sanitation and Energy a year later.
As with Rajendra’s initial start as a medic, Ian started out teaching in Zimbabwe, but this soon changed when he witnessed the terrible conditions the villagers lived in and the hours spent every day retrieving water many miles away – water that was mostly unsafe to drink.
At the time of winning the St. Andrew’s Medal, around 250,000 people were already using the pump and today over two million people use the Elephant Pump every day. This figure is growing each month thanks to funding from AquAid and others.
There are lessons to be learnt here and what seems to be clear indicators that time honoured old methods are what are needed in supplying a large portion of the world’s population with the tools for a safe and sustainable water supply.
Gentlemen, I salute you both!
*excerpts from an article in the BBC Science and Environment section by Roger Harrabin.
