Charity is Not Enough
Two years ago, my book, Long Walk on a Dry Road - The Education of a Water Warrior, was being printed with copies going to distributors and Amazon. It officially went on sale on Amazon a few weeks later on my birthday, November 27, 2018. It chronicled the many expeditions we took to 11 countries with the H2OpenDoors project, putting in water purification plants in impoverished villages and schools, and some hospitals. The stories relayed like a travelogue and tried to educate the reader about the advantages of combining adventures, service and cultural immersion.
In the two years since the book has been out, I’ve come to a compelling realization. While providing state of the art technology made by gold standard manufacturers (like Innovative Water Technologies of Colorado) is laudable as a charitable endeavor, it is simply a frustration of limits against the worldwide need. Charity alone cannot address the need as it should be addressed. It’s a start, but that’s all it is. At its best, charity feeds the givers soul. At its worse, charity simply extends dependency upon more charity.
The tagline of Global Water First is “Invest in Self-Reliance”. The poorest amongst us do not want hand-me-downs and handouts. While intentions are acknowledged, it should be considered unforgivable to provide solutions for immediate problems without addressing the core issues. Global Water First’s approach has five points of our star:
Provide Technology for Clean Safe Water
Guide the community towards water enterprise
Provide Technology for Reliable Electric Power
Mentor towards innovation
Provide Technology for full Internet Access
GWF’s mission is to inspire investors to provide the capital for infrastructure and people development in return for investment return of capital in a reasonable amount of time and a market rate profit. Stakeholders at the villages are tasked with managing the new resources to help grow communities of opportunity for advancement., while earning revenue for their own essential social services.
Learn more, as always, at www.GlobalWaterFirst.com.