Abundant Water

We hope this newsletter finds you and yours healthy and well, I can’t believe that it has already been two months since I last wrote.

On the morning of Thursday 14th July we held the launch of our ACTEW AGL sponsorship at the new ACTEW AGL Building in Civic, Canberra. CEO Mark Sullivan hosted the event and expressed his excitement about a simple home-grown solution to providing clean drinking water for remote communities. Mark expressed ACTEW’s support and handed over a significant cheque for the AW program in Laos. The event was covered in The Chronicle, The Canberra Weekly and on ABC local radio.

(http://www.abundantwater.org/2011/07/29/abundant-water-article-in-canberra-chronicle/).

The event was also attended by other sponsors and organisations interested in the AW project. AW wishes to acknowledge and thank Mark for his support and generosity and also for generously giving his time for the occasion. GDG have also become a corporate sponsor and we look forward to featuring a similar news item in the next newsletter.

Village Outreach

As of the end of August we now have trial filters in 11 villages. The list of the villages and the provinces in which we have been active over the past few months is:

Vientiane Province:
Ban Tam;
Ban Nam Suang;
Ban Pa Lai; and
Ban Som Samai.

Oudomxay Province:
Ban Houay Ta.

Bolikamxay Province:
Ban Pa Dai;
Ban Pa Meuang; and
Ban Na Long.

Xiengkuang Province:
Ban Yong;
Ban Mieng; and
Ponsavahn Neua.

Chantana has been very active and has spent more than half his time on the road heading back and forth to the villages.  After spending the last few years developing the technology and approach it has been great to see all this progress in the field. We hope to have their locations posted on google maps in time for the next newsletter.

First Training Course is Almost Ready to Begin

Chantana has begun to identify suitable candidates to undergo filter training. He has identified potential students in five villages. Noukham has produced the training manual and the centre is now ready for the first training session. Once the few remaining steps in the selection process have been completed we will be able to start the first training session.

Tourism Centre Progresses

We have just begun constructing a bungalow at the workshop. It will be used to accommodate tour groups for a few hours as they come through the centre to learn more about our project, drinking water issues in Laos and to participate in a Lao pottery exercise. The bungalow will be a similar style to the one above.

The bungalows will sit alongside the workshop.

We will use traditional materials. methods, and labour to build the bungalows. These are saplings used for scaffolding throughout Lao. We will use them as floor joists and roof trusses.

Did You Know?

We are using recycled timber to build the structure for the bungalows. The timber is 60 year old rainforest hardwood and actually comes from Noukham’s old house (she gave us a good price). Unfortunately the timber is riddled with white ants and left untreated would not last longer than a year or so. We are using a natural insecticide to get rid of the white ants; any guesses what it is? Tobacco. That’s right. If you mix a handful of tobacco with about 20 litres of water you have a natural insecticide. It is a good thing for us that tobacco is $2 per kilo in the local market – not so good for anyone trying to quit smoking though.

Annual General Meeting

Finally, our second AGM will be held in Canberra at 12 Macleay St Turner on Saturday 12th November from 11am. We anticipate the meeting taking about an hour to be followed by a BBQ. It will be a great opportunity to catch up on and celebrate the year’s progress and to also meet the Abundant Water team and supporters. I hope you can make it. Call 02 6247 1079 for more information.

To view this newsletter on the web, go to:
http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=3e5ead21eb1ad6eb65d530225&id=c432598033&e=442d389b72