Fight childhood disease with safe drinking water

Dear Friends and Supporters
I want to share with you some important news.  In January, Agua Pura was invited to Panama to meet with tribal communities and learn about their water problems.  The Wounaan peoples are one of several distinct native american tribes there with their own language and culture.  Traditionally they have lived for many centuries in the Darien area of eastern Panama overlapping with Columbia, in protected areas called Comarcas or reservations.
In recent years increasing outside pressures have negatively impacted their communities and threatened the Wounaan’s culture.  Violence spilling over from Columbia’s drug wars and illegal logging and cattle ranching on their lands have caused water pollution and illness in the communities.  Though Panama is a relatively wealthy nation for Central America, government help and resources rarely reach the Wounaan.
Because of Agua Pura’s background in clean water and sanitation I was invited to speak at the biannual Congress of the Wounaan Peoples about our water testing and water purification programs.  The Congress or meeting was held in  the community of Puerto Lara in the Darien area.  Several hundred people attended, with both men and women equally represented and participating.  Among the many important topics they discussed  including health, education, land rights and security, I made a brief presentation about how they could learn to test and disinfect their water supplies and keep their families healthy and safe.  I also tested some of the local water supplies for bacterial contamination and found several that were highly polluted.
Unfortunately, contaminated drinking water has lately become an urgent problem, with a number of small Wounaan communities having no source of clean water.  Because of this urgency I was asked if Agua Pura would help them develop a program of water testing and water purification.  Their plan would be to have a group of trained health workers who would regularly monitor local water sources and leading community members who would advise families on steps they should take.  Agua Pura would train the health workers, provide supplies and support their work.  We would also work with the Wounaan communities to insure that they have access to clean drinking water, demonstrating water purification methods and safe water storage.  To be effective it may require a several year commitment of support from Agua Pura.
The Wounaan people have asked for our help and I am committed to provide it if we can, but  Agua Pura will need your backing and support more than ever to achieve it.  To support our work with the Wounaan people I am establishing a special fund at Global Giving.  Money contributed to this fund will go to help support the training and supplying of health workers and others to monitor drinking water in Wounaan communities.  Because of the urgency of the problem we may divert resources from other programs to start this program.  Agua Pura will work with the leadership of the Wounaan tribes to oversee the work of the water monitors.  It is Wounaan’s goal that these programs ultimately come under their direction and control, and Agua Pura supports them.
Thank you so much for your support this last year.  Because of your donations Agua Pura has been able to continue and expand it’s mission in Latin America serving more and more families.  Now we come to you with an urgent request for your support on a new  program.  Please see our project titled “Train 20 Indigenous Health Workers in Panama” #13128.  Any donation you make will immediately go to providing clean drinking water for the Wounaan people of Panama.
Sincerely,
Tom Carter
Executive Director
Agua Pura Para El Pueblo

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One of Agua Pura’s important missions is to teach families ways that they can make their own  water safe to drink.  Rather than drilling wells, installing water systems or other expensive projects, Agua Pura demonstrates simple, inexpensive things they can do immediately to improve the health of their families.  These methods are nearly free, easy to do and good for the environment.  Later, when resources to build large projects become available these families will already have been protecting their families health.

As supporters of our work, you already know that we go into communities in Latin America and train local health workers and other community leaders to test local drinking water sources for bacterial contamination.  Diarrheal disease from drinking polluted water kills over a million children each year.  Agua Pura trains these people in modern, accurate methods of water testing then provides them with equipment and support at no charge so that they can continue to monitor their local water supplies.

After local health workers are trained in water testing we then go directly into the communities to work with families, to demonstrate these very simple and effective ways to make their water safe.  In dry, arid climates we teach people how to pasteurize water using simple reflector stoves made of cardboard and aluminum foil.  In rainy areas in Central America we build ‘rocket stoves” that efficiently burn waste fuel such as sticks and corn stalks and can be used for cooking as well as water purification.  And we pass out pasteurization indicators  - “WAPI’s” that show when the water is safe to drink.  We advocate for simple chlorine or other anti-bacterial drops that can kill pathogens.
Of course one of the most effective, least expensive and least followed procedures to prevent infection is hand washing.  In areas where drinking water is scarce or expensive, hand washing can seem like a luxury.  We work with school children and mothers to provide inexpensive hand washing stations in homes and schools that use little water but allow families to wash their hands after using the toilet and before cooking and eating.

This past summer and fall Agua Pura has begun to test various methods of water purification to see which are safest and most reliable for families to use.  There are many different procedures advocate by different organizations, some of which have only modest documentation about effectiveness, especially in real world settings.  Your contributions have made it possible for us to compare them against each other.  Using the same water testing techniques we teach to others, we tested various filter systems, solar pasteurization methods, sunlight UV disinfection and other techniques to see if they could make highly contaminated and dangerous water safe to drink.  Some methods did very well, some less so.

We plan to document and publish the results of our work later this winter, but we wanted to show you, our supporters and donors, some pictures of  work that you have made possible.  As always, we are deeply grateful for your help.

Your generous support of Agua Pura has made our work possible. All of our supplies and teaching materials were provided by your donations. Agua Pura volunteers pay all their own expenses so that 100% of your funds goes to our programs. We are deeply grateful for your help.

With your help Agua Pura has provided hundreds of Water Pasteurization Indicators (WAPI's) to families. WAPI's are a simple device that shows when water has been heated enough to make it safe to drink. A new project of ours has been to develop an information card with drawings showing how the WAPI's work without words, for families that don't read English or Spanish. Because of your support you can have a WAPI for your own use. They are good for camping or emergencies when you don't have access to clean water. Send us your name and address to tom@aguapuraparaelpueblo.org and we'll send you one.

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