In February, 2008, Gil Garcetti, former District Attorney of L.A. County and nationally acclaimed photographer, spoke to the women of Salon Forum about the dire need for safe water in West Africa and especially the plight of women and girls who toil endlessly to get water.
 

What we heard touched our hearts, and the next day the women of Salon Forum decided to take up this cause. The first thing we did was to explore NGO’s (non-governmental organizations), to partner with to do our work on the ground.
 

We explored several noteworthy ones and decided on World Vision for their experience, expertise and most critically, what partnering with them would mean from a financial perspective.

The next decision was where to drill. At that time, World Vision was working in three West African countries: Ghana, Mali, and Niger. When we looked at the list of "the poorest countries in the world," Niger was at the bottom, and thus our choice to drill wells there.