Hello again from Thirst-Aid!
Thank You Thirst-Aid!!
Thanks to all of you and your fantastic support we have just been contracted to open five new ceramic water filter factories in Myanmar with an additional three in the planning stages. Most will be in the delta region, one is being looked at near the beach, another in Mandalay and one in the dry region. These factories represent the first step toward taking our new WASHED (Water, Sanitation, Hygiene Education) program nation wide in 2009.
Our WASHED team is reporting early success for their pilot program in all four test villages. Filters are being used properly; latrines are being dug and installed. It will be months yet before we can accurately report an increase in public health. For now it is simply great news that people are becoming interested and investing themselves in a sustainable solution to their own public health problems. Thanks to you we are providing the tools, our team is providing the education, and the people themselves are implementing the solution.
We’re helping the Twante factory with their first major order. We’ve had to loan them buckets, taps and brushes as well as moral support. They’ve hired local basket makers to weave simple shipping baskets that the filters can nest in for protection. UNICEF ordered 4000 filter units from them to go to schools in the delta. Consequently we’re helping them to double their production capacity by adding another press and mold as well as two more kilns and a larger soak tank. We’re also assisting the CDA factory in Yangon with a new kiln and drying racks. The Thirst-Aid team will begin training the crew at the third Yangon factory beginning next week. We’re always ready to assist any factory to help them boost production to meet the growing demand while maintaining the highest quality. We have recently offered the NGO community the services of Thirst-Aid as quality control inspectors for every shipment of filters ordered, as well as the use of our education team and material to encourage its use.
Thirst-Aid staff is also training the Foundation for the People of Burma volunteers on how to use our successful WASHED program. We’re also furnishing FPB with medicine and rain water catchments and encouraging them to include water filters in their many projects. We continue to distribute medicines to several medical groups as well as giving them rainwater catchments and use of our education material and trainers.
In one week Curt and Cathy, our International Directors, will be stepping out of Myanmar briefly for a return trip to the USA to catch their breath, meet with donors, hug their families, catch me up to date and recharge before heading back into the fray. They have stops scheduled in Oregon, Colorado and Michigan. If anyone is interested in helping to spread the word about their amazing work in Myanmar and Thirst-Aid’s plans for the future please drop me an e-mail. I have press releases which include interview opportunities for each area ready to go and would happily accept any assistance in getting them sent to local press contacts. (National media would be OK too…)
We appreciate all of your continued support. Preventable waterborne diseases are still the number one killer of children world wide. With your help, we are changing that statistic, one sip at a time!
Check out our website at www.Thirst-Aid.org to learn more!
