WATER FOR AFRICA – WE ARE BORING FOR LIFE!!

Jeff has recently become a Patron of a small charity called Water for Africa. Founded by Sheryl Greenstreet 10 years ago it aims to provide boreholes of fresh water to African Villages. As part of the brand new PR campaign Jeff has designed new T Shirts for Sheryl to take out to the villages for the locals to wear. Bearing the slogan ‘Boring for Life’ Sheryl and her team are embarking on a major fundraising campaign to raise essential funds.

Coldplay supported Water for Africa by allowing them to use their song “Fix you” for the videos and as Sheryl is the founder and driving force  of Water fo Africa the reverse of the T Shirts  features the title “Lady Driller “   Sheryl, who was voted Tesco Woman of the Year in 2010, tells us:
”I founded Water for Africa in 2002.Hearing about an opportunity to be involved in setting up an organisation that can drill for ‘Water’ in Africa I visited The Gambia and saw for myself, the urgent need to invest in providing an essential element, we take for granted in the developed world.  I was also struck by the lack of sustainability in supporting water sources, which are failing across Africa.  This led me to believe that a new, more frugal, effective and impactful model for sourcing and drilling water was desperately needed.

 Whilst many high profile and charities have enthusiastic objectives and do truly commendable work, their effectiveness over time has been eroded by both local and government corruption and a lack of on-going commitment to maintain the water source in-situ. Over 50% of water sources are failing across Africa, which is a new crisis in itself.

We developed a new model  in terms of an improved, accountable financial model and the long-term approach to ensure that the money invested by donors has a continuous impact over many generations to come and the good news  is  that we now have a model which our donors and supporters can be confident is changing many thousands of lives.  So my new mission to ‘Drill Africa’ began.
We are the only UK charity with our own drilling organisation based within Africa and have worked for over 10 years drilling boreholes in a sustainable and cost effective way.

•    We drill only boreholes and not open wells.  This provides the community with a sustainable water system,
•     Safe water: Reduces the risk of cross contamination with animals and prevents the threat of children and livestock falling into the water source.
•    Sustainable: Because the borehole reaches the deeper aquifers, the borehole does not diminish in the ‘dry season’ and can provide the community with a continuous, high yielding water source.
•    Upgradable: The borehole can upgraded from a hand-pump, to a fully integrated irrigation system for agriculture.

 Being based locally and permanently within Africa, has enabled us to provide a permanent level of support and service to the communities we work with. We can assist with major repairs and spare part replacements, after the work has been completed. In addition, full training is given to an individual, either a woman or a man competent to enable them to continue to maintain, service and take ownership of the water system on a day to day basis. We also pay our workers directly to avoid any unwanted third party intervention.
Water for Africa and has succeeded in developing a unique model to not only provide water to millions of people in Africa, but ensure that the water source is supported and sustainable - and with over 50% of water sources now failing in Africa - NGO’s, governments and donors need to ensure that their investment continues to be supported on the ground for future generations. 
Can you help us?

 We welcome everyone to be part of this incredible journey and now, as Water for Africa culminates the celebration of its 10th Anniversary Year, we are asking companies if they wish to participate and support our aims and mission.
We believe that transparency and mutually working together to support your corporate social responsibilities aims are paramount to a successful long-term working relationship.  We would be delighted to arrange a meeting at a time and place to suit you and your team to discuss your organisational needs and objectives.   We always welcome our supporters to visit our projects in Africa at any time … Maybe something to consider for our second meeting?
If you wish to know more about our work, please visit our website at: www.waterforafrica.org.uk