I want to tell the story of each and every experience that I have had in Niger, West Africa…they all deserve to be told. However, what happened today is the real reason why I am here, and it needs to be told first.   Read more.

OK, it is really sinking in…. I am going to Niger, West Africa with the amazing organization I am affiliated with, Wells Bring Hope. I am traveling with them to write about their efforts and success so far, and also to witness first-hand the desperate amount of work and hardship that still needs to be addressed.   Read more.

As of 5pm, there are approximately 917,759,516 malnourished people in the world today. And today, it would cost about $26,233,000 to feed them all. But, instead, the USA and Europe spent that money, plus another $8 million, on food for their precious felines and canine (1).   Read more.

In these difficult economic times, it is easy to lose sight of the many things we have to be thankful for, but with Thanksgiving just around the corner and the holidays not far behind, now is the perfect time to pause, reflect, and express our gratitude for all that we have.   Read more.

It was an exciting evening and the most spectacular fundraiser put on by Wells Bring Hope since its inception in March 2008. “A Journey to Niger, West Africa” was held at the Lladro Gallery, 408 N. Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, on Thursday October 27, hosted by Valgard Capital Partners, LLC, and its principals, Robert Kerrigan and Kenneth Kilroy.   Read more.

When a new well is dug, the most obvious and immediate benefit is access to clean water. Africa’s challenges, however, extend well beyond its water problems. Fortunately, the benefits that a new well offers to a community go a long way toward addressing these other issues.   Read more.

Did you know that October 15 is the International Day of Rural Women? It was established by the United Nations in 2007 and observed for the first time in 2008, in New York.   Read more.

Of course most of us want to save a life, but who has the time? Wells Bring Hope has an easy answer- by simply broadcasting our messages to your network you can help save lives, empower women, educate girls and change a village for generations to come.   Read more.

Recently, I looked at pictures of clean and dirty water taken during my last trip to Niger, West Africa. There were a few shots of the surrounding village of Tchibarey.   Read more.

In the July 29th issue of “The Week,” one of my favorite publications, an eye-opening article appeared with the above title, excerpted from a book by Charles Fishman, “The Big Thirst.” “Water warriors” like me and others spend a lot of time thinking and writing about the lack of safe water in the developing world.   Read more.

Imagine if, here in the United States, all of the water pipes in your house disappeared one day. Now imagine that the only way to get water for the household was to make a daily two-hour trek on foot to the closest river.   Read more.

Bringing empowerment to women allows for greater expressions of caring attentiveness within communities. It follows then, to create lasting change, greater attention must be put on helping women cultivate their potential.   Read more.

Why is providing clean water so important and why Africa? First and foremost, water with pathogens kills 4,900 African children per day. This translates into more than one child per minute!  Read more.

It was a perfect L.A. summer day in a Japanese garden, and the mood of serenity was overshadowed by the excitement of knowing that our combined efforts have funded 63 wells and three more coming soon.  Read more.

Women living in Niger, West Africa, one of the poorest countries in the world, are busy fighting to survive. The goal of women’s empowerment and equal rights often seems unreachable when the odds are so heavily stacked against them.  Read more.

Last summer, I lived in Senegal, West Africa, for two months. I lived with a Senegalese family, took sustainable international development classes with local university students, and conducted personal field research on water issues in the rural town of Guede-Chantier (“Geh-day Shon-tee-ay”).  Read more.

As you wake up every morning, part of your daily ritual will include turning your faucet on, taking a shower, brushing your teeth, making a cup of coffee or tea then heading out for work.   Read more.

Development projects that bring clean and accessible drinking water to sub-Saharan African communities bring empowerment to women at both local and regional levels. Girls who might otherwise spend up to four hours a day walking to fetch water are free to spend that time in school.  Read more.

Niger is the second-worst place to be a mother ­– ahead of only Afghanistan – according to Save the Children’s annual State of the World’s Mothers report.  Read more.

As the summer blockbusters debut, here are some movies on water and sanitation that you might want to catch and some from the recent past that you might remember.   Read more.

Around the world, women and girls in developing countries walk an average of 6 kilometers a day (3.75 miles) carrying 20 liters (or 42 pounds) of water—often in isolated, unsafe areas, putting them in harm’s way.   Read more.

Covering global systems and megatrends, the “Future of Water” virtual conference examined how different fields, sectors and stakeholders can meet the challenge of providing a growing global population with clean and sustainable water.   Read more.

UCLA’s African Activist Association held a conference on May 21st, “Women Agency in Africa: Role, Motivation & Voice.”  As a speaker, I was happy to have the opportunity to let African activists know about the dramatic impact of drilling a clean water well has on improving the lives of women.  Read more.

Two weeks ago I returned to the West African country of Niger—one of the three poorest countries in the world. I was there to take more photographs, gather more stories, and to accompany the father and 25-year-old brother of a remarkable 14-year-old girl, Kevin Kilroy. Read more.

Wells Bring Hope joined other ecologically-minded non-profits on the Santa Monica College campus for Earth Day on April 22.  Students taking part in a “Treasure Hunt” had to walk from one end of the quad to the other carrying a 40 lb. can filled with water.  Read more.

It’s hard for Southern Californians to believe that an event they’ve planned–a walk in the Santa Monica Mountains for World Water Day–got rained out but that is exactly what happened. However, … Read more.

Every year on World Water Day there is a theme and this year it is: Water for Cities: Responding to the Urban Challenge. The United Nations reports that by 2030, nearly 60 % of the world will reside in cities, resulting in critical problems regarding how we manage water as well as wastewater.  Read more.

Do you know how the international observance of World Water Day started?  It began in 1992 as an initiative at the United Nations on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro.  Read more.

For the fifth year in a row, UNICEF is raising money for clean water for children around the world through the organization’s Tap Project during World Water Week, March 20-26, 2011. Read more.

What is the easiest way to transform the lives of women and girls in West Africa? Drill a well and give them safe water. Giving a rural village safe water as our non-profit, Wells Bring Hope does in West Africa, accomplishes more than saving lives from contaminated water.  Read more.

Here are highlights of a report published in late 2010 on the impact of the global financial crisis on financial flows to the water sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. The goal of the study was to analyze how the water sector is presently financed and then trace the impact of the crisis on these financing sources.  Read more.

Somewhere in a village in Niger, Amina is giving birth to a boy whose father already abandoned the family. The girl got married at the age of 12, now she suffers chest pains that prevent her from eating and sleeping.  Read more.

World Hand Washing Day was observed on October 15, 2010 in a region known for its high population density and high population growth, one of the highest in the world at more than 6% annually.  Read more.

We might not think of it often, one tends to take for granted what has always been here, but it also doesn’t take long to come to realize the preciousness of water. Wherever you turn and from every angle, life is possible thanks to water. There is no replacement for it. Read more.

I was born in the United States but left with my family for Nigeria, the country of my parents, at the age of four. I lived in Nigeria for 13 ½ years, in a place that one would call a remote primitive village turning into a city.  Read more.

Mildred Rivera, an artist, who specializes in air brushing and watercolor, and a student at Santa Monica City College, decided to donate 25% of profits from the show featuring her art and the art of her colleagues to Wells Bring Hope.  Read more.

With only five years left to meet the targets of poverty reduction and healthcare improvements set for 2015, most of sub-Saharan Africa lags behind amid the lack of aid and political will.  Read more.

While our mission is to bring safe water to rural villages in Niger, West Africa, we cannot ignore the most immediate problem: Niger is experiencing the worst hunger crisis in its history.  Read more.

While our mission is to bring safe water to rural villages in Niger, West Africa, we cannot ignore the most immediate problem: Niger is experiencing the worst hunger crisis in its history. And unlike the previous but not nearly as severe famine in 2005, this government is doing something about it.  Read more.

“The situation is escalating and we aren’t even at the peak of the hungry season between harvests yet,” said Sarah Carr, a World Vision nutritionist serving in Niger, West Africa. “Young boys are banging on my door at night begging for food,” said Carr. Read more.

The recent “Frontline” expose of much-trumped PlayPumps International’s failure compared to the quiet success of Wells Bring Hope is an excellent example of the wrong way and right way to do something. It also illustrates how a daffy idea can grab the media’s attention, attract big name support and money, waste millions of dollars in the process then crumple and die.  Read more.

A BIG thanks goes to Evan Sobel, Elizabeth Gervase and Jessica Hooks, who worked so hard in the heat and dust and blaring music of the Sunland/Tijunga Watermelon Festival on Saturday, August 14, 2010. We raised $375, and while that doesn’t sound like much, it was quite an accomplishment, given the demographics of the people who attended.  Read more.

Safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights, the General Assembly declared  Read more.

Many people don’t realize that water in the developing world is a women’s issue. Why do I mean by that? Women and girls are responsible for getting water for their families. They spend much of their waking hours walking miles to get water–water that can be deadly.  Read more.

The evening was a huge success, with close to 100 people attending. Millicent Gappell’s piano concert, featuring classical music and the musicians who composed for Hollywood in the 1940′s, 50′s and 60′s, was brilliant.  Read more.

These are excerpts from an article that reinforces how important it is to include education on good sanitation and proper hygiene for the success of any major health program  Read more.

For most of the last century, save-the-worlders were primarily Democrats and liberals. In contrast, many Republicans and religious conservatives denounced government aid programs, with Senator Jesse Helms calling them “money down a rat hole.”   Read more.

On a balmy October evening, amid memorabilia of Walt Disney–the ultimate purveyor of happy stories–Wells Bring Hope’s fundraiser brought in enough money to create stories of happiness by saving lives in five villages in Niger, West Africa.  Read more.