Hello friends!

I hope your 2021 has started out strong, and you and your family are staying healthy. Between having a couple of kids and COVID, things have been moving slow for HydrateLife over the past couple of years, but I’m back in 2021 with an exciting new project!

For this project we’re moving out of Colombia, and partnering with a couple of great organizations to build a completely solar powered water system in Motuse, Nicaragua. This system will bring clean water directly to the homes of all 623 residents! I’ve shared more information about the project below. I’m really excited about it, and I hope you’ll take some time to read it over, learn what we’re up to, and consider supporting our efforts. Speaking of, you’ll have a chance to do that with our first FUNdraiser…

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Get ready for some virtual BINGO! Everyone who participates will meet up on Zoom, we’ll play some games, have some laughs, and win some prizes! Bingo is a lot of fun for people of all ages, so “bring” your kids, and invite your friends and family; the more the merrier! Click below to sign up.

When: Saturday, April 24th from 4-5:30 PST

Minimum donation: kids under 18 – $10, adults – $20

I’ll send more information to the people who sign up closer to the date of the fundraiser.

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Solar Powered Water for Motuse, Nicaragua

This project will include:

• Digging a well to provide a reliable source of water.
• Installing an 18-panel solar array to power the water pumps.
• Laying pipe to send water from the well to the community.
• Building two water towers in the community from which the water will be distributed.
• Building a distribution system to bring clean water to every home in the community, as well as a school and three churches.
• Piloting a UV water purification system in part of the community.

I’ll be partnering with a great organization named Companion Community Development Alternatives, or CoCoDA, and their in-country partner, The National Community Movement (MCN). These two organizations have been working in Central America for decades, and I’m really excited for this partnership!

There will be two main impacts from this project:

• Everyone will have clean water at home! Gastrointestinal illnesses are very common because the water becomes contaminated during transportation from their current well. This keeps the adults home from work, and kids home from school. Having water piped directly to their homes will eliminate this risk of contamination. Additionally, analysis of the water in nearby wells show a presence of nitrates and ammonia from agricultural operations. We’ll take care of that by filtering the water before it gets to the houses.
• It will give hours of time back to the women and children of the community who, for the most part, are the ones who walk up to 1.25 miles multiple times a day to get to their current source of water. Getting this time back means freedom. Freedom for the kids to be kids and play or study, and freedom for the women to work and help provide for their family, take care of other responsibilities, or pursue other interests they never had time for before.

The total budget for the project is about $80,000, and I’m looking to raise $25,000 towards that total over the next six months. I’ll be going after grants, soliciting donations from private donors and businesses, and having several virtual fundraisers that I think are going to be a lot of fun!

I’m really excited about this project. We’re going to be able to help a lot of people while keeping the entire project off the grid. Once we’re done the community will have complete control over the system, and by metering the connection at the houses they will have the money needed for any repairs, or to expand the system if needed. This means the system will last for many years, and water will no longer have to be something this community has to worry about.

These types of impacts can transform a community, and the lives of everyone that live there. And not just the people that live there right now; this project can be the start of big changes for the community that will be felt for generations to come. Besides the health factor, this change can lead to real economic growth for the community. All of the people who couldn’t work because they had the responsibility of collecting water for their household will be free of that burden. And it goes further. The community will collectively have more time. That means they can work on community development to improve their overall situation.

Maybe the most important outcome is the impact it will have on the kids. Of the 623 people in the community, 197 are kids under 18. This project directly translates to more time in school, and more time to study, plus, they’ll have time to play and be kids, something that’s actually very important to their development. Have you ever carried a bucket full of water on your head for a mile? These kids have. That’s not fun, and not something that any kid anywhere should have to do. Let’s remove this burden and let them get back to being kids.

Besides taking part in virtual BINGO, please consider making an additional tax-deductible donation to HydrateLife to support this project. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out.

Do not click this link to sign up for BINGO

help bring clean water to every home in Motuse – donate now

Thanks for reading, and hopefully I’ll see you on the 24th!

Sincerely,

Brian