Clean Water for the Poor Freewaters

Clean Water for the Poor

Are you as concerned about Improving conditions for the poorest of the poor throughout the world? Did you know clean water is one of the most desperate needs in much of the world?  Clean Water for the Poor is what Freewaters is all about!

The Clean Water Problem

The Individuals

Currently, 748 million people live without access to safe water and 2.5 billion live without adequate sanitation. [1]

Safe water for irrigation or animals might be necessary to the extent that it affects individual human health and dignity.

Water and Business

From the local farmers market to large multinational corporations in agriculture, manufacturing, and service industries, all businesses rely on some extent on consistent access to safe water and sanitation. Water is essential for growing and processing raw goods for food and textiles. It is essential for industry and manufacturing, from local farmers washing produce to processing goods like coffee and cotton to steel manufacturing.

Water and Poverty

Water and poverty are intertwined for both employees and consumers. Without safe water and sanitation during the day, workers and customers have to leave their job or market to find water and a place to go to the bathroom. Employers who are able to provide safe drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities for their employees are able to retain healthier and more productive employees. Schools in rural areas often have a difficult time retaining teachers when they cannot provide sanitation facilities in or near the school.

Water and Disease

For those who live without safe water, adequate sanitation, and effective hygiene practices, water-borne disease is a constant threat to health, keeping people out of the work force and in poverty. Over 40 billion productive hours are lost each year to fetching water in sub-Saharan Africa.[5] About half of the developing world’s hospital beds are occupied by people with water-related illness.[6]

Water and Education

Water and poverty are linked in education; preventable, water-borne disease keep children out of school. An estimated 443 million school days are lost each year from water-related illness.[7] In many cases, children are too sick with diarrhea and other water-borne diseases like typhoid, cholera, or dysentery to go to school or must care for sick family members instead of going to class.

I have Seen the Need for Clean Water

When I have traveled to places in the poorer parts of the world, like, Jamaica,  Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, or even New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, clean water has been an issue whenever we visited the poor parts of the community.

Once while we were in Cuba the need was so bad, that the family was in desperate straits. Fortunately one of our team members was able to come up with a relatively small amount of $200 to dig a well for that particular family. But that will not always be the case.

Organizations Doing Great Work for Clean Water

There are of course several organizations that deal with bringing clean water to the 3rd world and many of them are very very reputable. I have supported several of these organizations over the years, I have been very happy to do so, and I will continue to do the same.

https://lifewater.org/

https://thewaterproject.org/

Get Personally Involved

But I’m also looking for a more tangible way to get involved. I have dreamed about going on site too desperate parts of the world and helping teams dig wells. Yes I think that will happen yet but not quite at this time.

Freewaters

There had to be another great way to get involved. And in searching for that, I discovered Freewaters.  Freewaters is basically a hip sustainable footwear company that sponsors clean water projects with their profits. How cool is that?  Who doesn’t like a great shoe?

Their Story

• 2010 a couple of design geeks in San Francisco came up with this cool idea to make amazing, comfortable traveling shoes to support their initiative to sponsor clean water projects around the world.
• 2011 they sponsored their first water project in Kenya and they launched their first sandal design.
• 2014 they moved their office to San Clemente Ca. and launched their first shoe style, and sponsored their first clean water project in Haiti.
• 2016 they began selling their footwear from the Philippines across Asia.
• 2018 Freewaters developed Supreem Foam which solved a major design issue with their sandals. They developed sustainability focused “Responsible Leather” for their sandals.
• 2019 Nominated for the REI Vendor Partner of the Year.

Check out the Freewaters Story Here!

My Crazy Cool Sandals

If you know anything about me, you know I am actually exceeding practical. I want to buy something that is going to be great and last forever! That is why I have decided to work with Freewaters.

They have many styles to choose from. I select these Supreem Sport – Black sandals because they are very cool, they stay in place as I am running around in my active lifestyle.

This sandals are always on my free because they are so comfortable.

These Sandals are a work of art!

How Do I Get Involved?

If you love the idea of supporting Clean Water initiatives around the work you must check out Freewaters.  Everything they do is in a responsible sustainable manor.  I think you will fall in love with then like I did.

If you are just looking for amazing shoes or sandals, you need to check out Freewaters. They produce some of the highest quality, comfortable, and stylish shoes you have ever seen.  I could not love them any more.

Conclusion

I hope you join me on this clean water initiative. It is need and dear to my heart and it is projects like this that really help us to feel like we are fully alive.   And until next time, get out and capture the adventure.

Footnotes:

[1] WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation, Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation: 2014 Update (Geneva: WHO Press, 2014), 8.

[3] WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation, Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation: 2014 Update (Geneva: WHO Press, 2014), 12.

[4] “Health through safe drinking water and basic sanitation,” World Health Organization, last accessed October 2, 2014, http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/mdg1/en/.

[5] United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Human Development Report 2006, Beyond Scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), 47, available at http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-report-2006.

[6] The United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Human Development Report 2006, Beyond Scarcity: power poverty and the global water crisis (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), 45, available at http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-report-2006.

[7] United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Human Development Report 2006, Beyond Scarcity: power poverty and the global water crisis (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), 45, available at http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-report-2006.

[8] In 2012, development economists ranked getting clean water to rural villages as number one in greatest estimated impact among strategies to fight global poverty. Bruce Wydick, “Cost-Effective Compassion,” Christianity Today, February 2012, 24.

[9] Schuster-Wallace et al., Safe Water as the Key to Global Health, United Nations University (UNU-INWEH) (2008), 6, available at http://inweh.unu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/SafeWater_Web_version.pdf. When operation and maintenance costs are included, a more conservative estimate is $2-$5.50 in return (globally) for water and sanitation investments, respectively. Guy Hutton, Global costs and benefits of drinking-water supply and sanitation interventions to reach the MDG target and universal coverage (WHO: 2012), available at http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/2012/globalcosts.pdf.

[10] UN Water, The UN World Water Development Report 3: Water in a Changing World (UN Water: 2009), 8, available at http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/environment/water/wwap/wwdr/wwdr3-2009.

[11] Schuster-Wallace et al., Safe Water as the Key to Global Health, United Nations University (UNU-INWEH) (2008), 8, available at http://inweh.unu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/SafeWater_Web_version.pdf.

 

Clean Water for the Poor Freewaters

Written by Wayne Moran - Visit Website
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