Thanksgiving Dinner 2018 in Munich

Global H2O Germany Hosts 9th Annual Thanksgiving Fundraiser in Munich

Global H2O Germany held its 9th annual Thanksgiving fundraising dinner in November, once again raising enough money to fund a complete well in Africa. According to Anke Humphrey, who organized the gala event, the money will be put to use quickly early next year when a team from Germany travels to Africa to supervise construction of a series of wells.

The Global H2O team welcomed a full house of about 80 guests, who were entertained during the evening by the The Isar String Band, and local duo that specializes in bluegrass, folk and Appalachian music. Global H2O co-founder James Wilde flew in for the event to address the guests, summarize GH2O’s activities for the year, and provide a vision of our activities for the coming year.

Once again, Thanksgiving dinner was sponsored by Tantris Restaurant, Munich’s premiere gourmet restaurant that justifiably bears two Michelin stars.

At the Thanksgiving dinner, several guests were honored who have contributed to our success in recent years.

Markus Frank, a Munich-native and professional chef, raised €3000 for Global H2O several years ago and traveled to Africa to supervise the drilling of a well. He returned to Munich as a transformed person after witnessing both the need for creating access to clean water in Africa, as well as experiencing first-hand the friendliness and hospitality of the people who benefit from our work.

Markus now lives and works in Switzerland, where he is a chef at the Hotel Kurhaus Bergün in the Kanton of Graubünden. Last summer, the hotel staff held a garden party to raise funds for Global H2O. The hotel owners then generously doubled the amount, bringing the total to €1400. For his continued support of Global H2O, now in his adopted country of Switzerland, the Team thanked Markus and presented him with an official Global H2O Certificate of Appreciation.

Boris Terwey organized the Thanksgiving attendance of 12 co-workers from his company Sapient. Boris is an unconventional fundraiser. To raise money for Global H2O in 2018, Boris raced an old car the entire Baltic Sea through NINE countries in the middle of the darkness of the Scandinavian winter. Together with his team Champagne Supernova, Boris successfully completed the 2018 Baltic Sea Circle Rally, raising enough funds to build one turn-key well in Africa. Together with some friends, Boris and his wife Anita will travel to Uganda in February 2019 at their own expense to witness the fruits of these fundraising efforts.

For his creative fundraising ideas, his friendship, and his ability to race a car in snow, the Global H2O Team thanked Boris and presented him with an official Global H2O Certificate of Appreciation.

Florian Spitta has catered every Thanksgiving Dinner in Munich since our first dinner in 2010. A friend of our sponsors Sabine and Felix Eichbauer, Florian coordinates dinner for 80 guests with the kitchen and takes care of the logistics. There is probably no other Bavarian who knows more about American Thanksgiving cooking than Florian! He recently realized a dream when he opened his own restaurant called Ludwig8, located coincidentally at Ludwigstrasse 8.

For his continued voluntary support of Global H2O, the Team presented Florian with an official Global H2O Certificate of Appreciation.

Sabine and Felix Eichbauer first met Jamie Wilde while kite-surfing in Brazil over 10 years ago. As founding members of our German organization, Sabine and Felix have been part of Global H2O Germany since Day One. In 2012, the couple joined Jamie Wilde and German Country Manager David Humphrey on a journey to Uganda to supervise and document the construction of a series of wells for which they had raised funds. Like many of the professional people who support us, the Eichbauers realized how the value of their profession – in their case the gourmet restaurant business — could benefit Global H2O by sponsoring an annual Thanksgiving dinner. After nine years of fine Thanksgiving dining, we have built enough wells with the proceeds to provide access to clean water for nearly 20,000 people.

For their extremely generous, continued support of Global H2O, the Team thanked Sabine and Felix Eichbauer and presented them with an official Global H2O Certificate of Appreciation.

More news from Cameroon by Mathis Biermann (2018)

When I witnessed Global H2O’s work in Uganda in March 2017, I was immediately hooked. Firstly, the pure process of seeing water shoot out of the ground is just fascinating to see. Secondly, and more importantly, the effect this has on the people living close to the new water source is immense.

When I got back to Germany, I was hanging out with my friend Sammy who is originally from Cameroon. His mum was visiting at that time and we got to talk about the water situation in their village. She told me how 2,000 people in the village of Mbah do not have regular access to clean water and how much they would appreciate help from outside to solve this issue. The village is situated in the very hilly region around Kumbo in the North West region of Cameroon and is thus difficult to reach. Especially after a war over independence and oil broke out in the English speaking region of Cameroon, local authorities have other things in mind than taking care of water infrastructure issues in a small village. For me, the situation was clear: I would start collecting money to fund a water project. As Global H2O had only operated in Uganda at that time, I decided to fly down to Cameroon with Sammy in order to manage the project on site.

But first, I needed funds. And also, I needed a local contractor to know how much to collect. Through the help of Sammy’s mum, we got in touch with Elvis from Ets Formavise, a local construction company in Kumbo. Together with the village water committee, we made the plan of providing water to the village at two different places.

THE HEALTH CENTER OF MBAH

The health center is a small building just off the main road which is mostly used to treat malaria and to deliver children. Hard to imagine that there was no running water. Whenever they needed water, they went up to the main road and asked a moto bike driver to get water for them. Of course, this water would often come from doubtful sources and even make things worse sometimes. This place needed a tap with running clean water.

THE MBAH MARKET

Every Saturday, people from all of the surrounding villages are coming to the market in Mbah to sell their produce (fruits, vegetables, oil, clothes). For a whole day, there are around 150-200 people close together and there is no water source available anywhere. It is a very central place in the village which is easy for all inhabitants to get to. Therefore, we decided to also provide water there.

The health center and the market are around 1.5 km from each other. To get water to these two places, we needed to drill a borehole somewhere in the middle and lay pipes along the main road. Luckily, we were able to detect water and a first cost estimate could be done. For the amount of 10,300 Euros, we could drill a borehole, install an electric pump, erect a scaffolding with a 3,000 liters tank, lay pipes to both places and construct taps to provide water.

How do you raise 10,300 Euros?

Collecting such a high amount of money for a good cause is actually quite a task. But I was determined to get it done and was off to a good start.

A manager of my company celebrated his 50th birthday and decided to collect money for me instead of asking for gifts: The first 3,000 Euros were collected (Thank you very much Karsten!). Of course, I was also talking about the project to family, friends & coworkers for a whole year and the word was spread. Additionally, when I traveled to Ghana, I bought 10 backpacks with a Ghanaian print and sold them at a high “profit” margin to donate as well. All this got me another 1,500 Euros.

But I needed another source of income and decided to organize a charity dinner. On November 30, 2017, I was thrilled to welcome 37 guests to Trattoria Luisa, a fantastic Italian Restaurant in the South of Dusseldorf. Even the founder of Global H2O, James Wilde, had made his attendance and the dinner was a huge success. James, Sammy and I talked about the water crisis and presented the ideas for our Cameroon project. The whole event generated donations of 3,000 Euros!

For the remaining 2,800 Euros, I was lucky to also be involved in the non-profit organization Kinder der Sonne, which was founded by my sister Marie. They were very helpful and decided to add my funds up to 10,300 Euros!

Project supervision on site

Beginning of June 2018. After a weekend in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde, Sammy and I headed up north. The drive took us around 10 hours and an overnight stay in Bamenda, which is the capital of the English speaking region of Cameroon. Currently, fights over independence have put this region into a state of emergency and fear, but we reached the village of Mbah safely in the early morning (read more about the crisis here). Right on that day, we met up with all responsible for the water project, including the water committee, our contractor, the health center manager and the village representatives. We inspected the sites and made a schedule for the next weeks so that material and workers would be available when needed.

The village itself is surrounded by beautiful landscape. It is embedded in the hills of the Kumbo region and your view is just stunning. People in the village live from what their farms provide: corn, groundnut, huckleberry or mango. Some families own livestock such as goats or cows. However, feeding yourself or your animals and growing your vegetables is difficult if you don’t have access to water when you need it.

One day after our arrival, the workers started digging trenches for the pipes from both the health center and the market. Around 8 people were manually the trench to a depth of 50 cm, many of them barefooted. It was hard work, especially when crossing the very dry and hard main road. Luckily there was a lot of palm wine to help everyone stay hydrated and motivated! After four days, it was done, the trench was going all the way through the village and connecting the borehole to the future water spots.

Now, the taps had to be done. The builder arrived on the back of a motobike that his apprentice was riding. They carried their tools and wood slats in their hand, one of many ways of transporting things on a moto. They started by mixing gravel, cement, sand and water (from a spring) to construct the foundation of the tap. While this was drying, the builder started making the frame from the wood slats. The tap itself was put through a pipe and was held upright with concrete. The same procedure was done at the market and took about two days in total.

So, now we had the pipes where we needed them and the water was ready to flow from the taps. It was only the borehole that was still missing. Unfortunately, though, there was a major problem with the drilling rig. It was stuck in Bamenda and had problems to get the engine going after it broke down. We knew, this would take a while to get fixed.

In the meantime, we started with the other preparations: constructing the scaffolding for the water tank, erecting a fence around it and providing training for the locals to raise awareness for hygiene, water quality and maintenance.

After all this work we had already done, the village representatives had organized a big celebration event. Everybody came to the market: The representatives of the fon (=one of the regional kings of the Nso), the village head, the council, all title holders of the community, the water committee, the workers, the village women and christian groups. We had a great get together and every group was giving speeches about how this project is going to improve the situation in the area. Sammy and I were overwhelmed when we were given chicken, potatoes, groundnut, pineapples and many more gifts. The fon representatives even conferred us the title “shey of water” and we were handed traditional clothes, a huge honor! After this ceremony, the whole crowd walked to the borehole place and everybody gathered around the spot where the drilling would take place. The village head kneed down and asked the ancestors to provide water enough water. It was a very intense and spiritual gesture, as he also sacrificed some chicken feathers, fruits and we all shared some palm wine. Nothing could go wrong with drilling after this!

And then, finally the drilling rig came. Everything was set for it to drill and to connect the pump to the water tank. But see for yourself:

We are thanking all donors who have made this water project possible. I also want to convey my thanks from all villagers. We have improved the water situation in the village of Mbah, but there is much more to do. Stay updated about my next projects and feel free to get in touch with me anytime!

Spring 2018 First Well Drilling in Cameroon

Thanks to the hard work of the German community, Global H2O will drill its first-ever well in the west Africa nation of Cameroon this week. Our team is on-site in the village of Mbah, which lies in a hilly region northwest of Cameroon, 400 kilometers from the capital Yaoundé. Of the 2000 residents, most are subsistence farmers who plant corn, huckleberry, plantain or potatoes. A few have cows and goats. Along the main road are rows of mud or stone huts in which people live or run shops. There is a school, a marketplace and a healthcare center separated by a 20 minute. Between them, surveyors tell us there is water below the surface.

Despite a vast water table beneath the surface, Africa is known for its water problem. The real problem is the lack of access to clean water. In many countries, there is simply not enough availability of clean water to match the needs of the population.

Cameroon is a large country with a population of 24 million people. The political crisis of recent years over oil rights means that basic services like electricity are unpredictable. Villages are being attacked, car set on fire, resulting in an 8:00pm curfew as police try to gain control of the situation.

The well project in Mbah has been anticipated for a long time by the local community. Many residents thought it was just a rumor and can hardly believe that the drill team is now there, ready to work. Measures have been taken to transport water from the new well via pipes to the marketplace and healthcare center. When the well is finished and handed over to the local community, the village is planning a huge celebration will take place, maybe as early as Tuesday. After that, the Global H20 team onsite will organize a training session for the local water committee to ensure that the well is operated and maintained properly.

On location for Global H2O are Mathis Biermann from Germany and Sammy Ndzelen, who hails from Kumbo, not far from Mbah. Sammy and Mathis met while Sammy was studying statistics in Dortmund. Last year, the two came up with the idea for the project based on Sammy’s accounts of the water problem in his homeland. Mathis drove the fundraising effort on several fronts. In 2017 he hosted a fundraising dinner in Germany that raised about half the money need to build he well. The remaining funds came from Mathis’ work with a local charity called “Kinder der Sonne”, as well as generous donations from friends and coworkers.

Broughton Walk for Water 2018

Broughton High School is hosting its 3rd annual Walk for Water to fight water insecurity and inequality throughout the world. This is a 2 mile walk at Broughton High School, and the 2 miles represent the distance millions of women in the world have to walk one-way just to find water. This year’s goal is to raise over $10,000 in order to help provide a sustainable water source to communities that lack a clean source. Clean water is something that we often take for granted, but often times women in developing countries have to walk miles each day just to find water that may not even be clean. Please donate and come to the race, every dollar counts!

Day and Time of Event: Saturday, April 28 at 10:30 am

Ticket Price: $20.00

Address:  723 St. Marys St., Raleigh, NC 27605

Create your Own team! People are more than welcome to start their own fundraising teams and campaigns! Click Here

We Want Your Help! Please spread the word as much as possible! For media tools and inquiries please contact us!”

Tickets can be purchased here:





 

Baltic Sea Circle Winter, February 2018

Rally Around a Cause!

Want to raise enough money to build a well in Africa and supply up to 2000 people with access to clean water? One way to accomplish this is to drive 7500 km around the Baltic Sea. GH2O fans Boris Terwey and Arndt Gaube did it. Here’s how!

The Baltic Sea Circle Winter is a rally race for a “special” breed of race driver. It takes place at the end of February and lasts about 15 days. The 7500 km course takes teams through the ice and snow and short days of nothing less than 10 countries in northern Europe.

What’s allowed? Cars that are at least 15 years old. And good snow tires.

What’s not allowed? GPS. Navigation systems. Driving on highways.

So who benefits? Most of all, charities! This year, team Champagne Supernova (Boris and Arndt), named Global H2O as its official charity, initially with a modest goal of raising €3000. That goal was reached before the race started, so the team raised the bar to €7000 – the cost of one turnkey water well in Africa. Then, during the race, the €7000 mark was busted, but the donations kept coming in! By the time the team crossed the finish line in Hamburg, a whopping €9400 had been collected and transferred to Global H2O!

So what will become of the all that money? Global H2O plans to build a well in honor of the team Champagne Supernova donors in the next few months, most likely in a refugee camp in northern Uganda. The additional money will be used to rehabilitate a existing well. All together, the efforts of team Champagne Supernova and the generosity of over 80 donors will be enough to supply over 4000 people in Africa will clean water!

We at Global H2O never cease to be amazed at the creativity of our community. In the name of the people in Africa who benefit from their generosity, we thank Boris Terwey and Arndt Gaube for their amazing effort, their perseverance, and their warm hearts!

— Your Global H2O team

Global H2O presents to Beta Club at Daniels Middle School

Global H2O Team Members presented to the Beta Club at Daniels Middle School on February 22nd.
Daniels students are participating in Broughton High School’s 3rd annual Walk For Water on April 28!
We are so proud of these students and their commitment to helping others!
To learn more :
https://globalh2o.org/2018/02/broughton-walk-for-water-2018/
Please contact globalh2o@nc.rr.com or Amy.klabon@globalh2o.org to find out about hosting a walk at your school!