Outbreaks of water borne disease are becoming increasingly common in
schools as existing systems for water supply break down and children
resort to unprotected sources such as open wells and dams. This crisis
threatens the lives and education of many thousands of children,
regardless of whether food relief reaches the schools in time.
Due to a shortage of firewood, villagers in a rural area in Zimbabwe
weren’t boiling the drinking water they collected from an unprotected
supply. After two small children and an elderly teacher died from
dysentery when a snake fell into their water source and decomposed, an
Englishman, Ian Thorpe, working as a teacher at the time, along with
other villagers, decided it was time for a change and founded the
organization Pump Aid to provide safe drinking water for poor rural communities in Africa.
When Ian and his group realized the potential of rope pumps they
developed their own based on a 2000 year old Chinese design and called
it the Elephant Pump. The Elephant Pump is cheap, durable, simple to
construct and maintain and, most importantly, sustainable. Just
recently, Pump aid has won the St. Andrews Prize for the Environment.
Pump Aid builds appropriate technology water pumps that can be
maintained by poor rural communities without any outside
assistance. These pumps provide clean drinking water and can
also be used to sustain crops during the dry season or through
periods when rains fail, as they have
done this year.
Pump Aid was founded by
people who belong to and understand
the community in which they are working. A deep understanding of
traditional Shona culture has allowed the team to work closely
with others in the community to develop a programme that is
sensitive to the cultural context in which it operates. Many
other projects have failed due to ignorance about the cultural
considerations of development. Pump Aid on the other hand, has
set new standards for working with poor rural communities in a
way that is sensitive to traditional values.
Pump Aid is currently prioritising poor schools for assistance.
There is a desperate need for a reliable supply of clean water.
Out of 1078 schools in Manicaland (the eastern province of Zimbabwe)
over 700 have sent applications for Pump Aid for assistance.
In some cases, schools now face closure due to cholera outbreaks caused
by a lack of clean water. Without clean water, children cannot
attend school since their lives are at risk. An average school
has about 500 children and 12 teachers. One school pump costing
just 200 pounds will supply clean water for all these children, the
teachers and some local families.
In many cases, water from the Elephant
Pump is also used to irrigate a school vegetable garden.
Produce can be used to raise money for the school or can be
taken home by the children when food at home is short, such as
in this year of famine.
"Jessica Simpson has seen more combat action than our president." -Randi Rhodes
ADDITIONALLY:
ContactMusic
reports "Jessica Simpson wants to know where missing footage of her and
husband Nick Lachey's harrowing trip to Iraq got to - because she
thinks Americans would like to see just how bad conditions are there..."
The pop
singers-turned-reality TV couple travelled to the war-torn nation to
visit US troops as part of a recent ABC TV variety special, and they
were both left shellshocked by what they saw.
But all the controversial moments and harrowing footage of the trip didn't appear in the fun-filled TV show.
Simpson says, "It was unbelievable. They didn't show a lot of what
really went on with the enemy attacks and the shelling. There was so
much stuff that went on and somehow the tapes got mysteriously
misplaced.
"It put everything in perspective for me. It really did teach me
the definition of sacrifice. I can't even fathom being out there right
now. I was ready to come home."
Due to a shortage of firewood, villagers in a rural area in Zimbabwe
weren’t boiling the drinking water they collected from an unprotected
supply. After two small children and an elderly teacher died from
dysentery when a snake fell into their water source and decomposed, an
Englishman, Ian Thorpe, working as a teacher at the time, along with
other villagers, decided it was time for a change and founded the
organization 
