The Water Tank

thirsty?

2008-04-13T10:34:00.002+12:00

The Tap Project!

2008-04-07T12:13:00.002+12:00

This blog is coming out of retirement to bring you exciting news (well I think it's exciting).

UNICEF New Zealand is running something called The Tap Project from 5th to 11th April 2008. ie. now!

What is it? Basically, if you rock up to one of the Tap Project participating restaurants, you'll be offered the opportunity to pay for the table water they normally serve up for free.

And that's supposed to be exciting?

Well yes...because I think a lot of the time, we just need the opportunity to give a little bit to make big change. And it's also raising awareness of the struggle so many go through on a daily basis just to get hold of something we take for granted: clean water.

It's also a good excuse to head out for dinner and celebrate living! Tell your family, tell your friends - let's make ourselves a community of people who value the gift of water, and help to make it available to others.

There's a full list of participating restaurants on the website - Wellington has the most participants thus far, beating Auckland and Christchurch hands down. w00t!

>>link to Tap Project website
>>link to participating restaurants
>>link to UNICEF New Zealand website

bottled water

2007-11-07T14:10:00.000+13:00

Below is a link to an incredibly good article about bottled water. It's based on consumption of bottled water in the US, but I think a lot of the issues would be the same in NZ.

It's very objective, and an interesting read. Have a look:

link to Message in a Bottle article, Fast Company magazine.

You might also be interested in this New Zealand site (which is where I picked up the link):

link to Be the Change website

signed, sealed, delivered

2007-05-26T18:45:00.000+12:00

Okay, so we took these photos a few weeks ago...I'm a little slow. But we got there :)

pics from the walk for water

2007-05-26T08:37:00.000+12:00

Back in April, some of us went for a wee walk. Here are some pics from that day.

any advances on a water tank?

2007-04-15T13:44:00.000+12:00

“if you build it, they will come”
- field of dreams (1989)

“Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
- 2 Corinthians 9:7 (New International Version)

She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came back up. The servant ran to meet her and said, "Please, can I have a sip of water from your jug?"
She said, "Certainly, drink!" And she held the jug so that he could drink. When he had satisfied his thirst she said, "I'll get water for your camels, too, until they've drunk their fill." She promptly emptied her jug into the trough and ran back to the well to fill it, and she kept at it until she had watered all the camels.

The man watched, silent. Was this God's answer? Had God made his trip a success or not?
- Rebekah and Isaac’s servant, Genesis 17-21 (the Message)

... so has God made our Water Tank project a success?

Is the pope Catholic?!!! (in other words, yes :) )

Yes, he has. Beyond my wildest dreams of success.
I paid a visit to the morning services at church today. As you may know, I don't usually come along to the morning services. But I'd been told there were a few eager givers, who just wanted the opportunity to contribute.

Not only did they make up all remaining money, but they topped it!! I'm not sure by how much yet, there's still a bit of banking and counting and shuffling to be done.

But I think we'll have enough to do something crazy like send some piglets along with the water tank. Or help an HIV-affected child stay in school. Or send sports gear. Possibly all three!! I'll keep you posted :)

I have many thank yous to make. I think I will save that for another day when I can pay more fitting tribute to the amazing people - and amazing God - who have made this project a success.

Who knows what we'll do next?!!

Thanks for reading - stay tuned for the next exciting episode in our project...
...buying the tank!!! Wooohooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

PS: those of you with chocolate money still to bring in, we still need you!! I'm counting your contributions to our final takings. Hope to see you all tonight!!

so close!

2007-04-11T18:23:00.000+12:00

Hi everyone,

apologies for the lack of action on the blog here. I tried to put a cute little fish tank widget in here for your amusment, to make up for it...it didn't work :(

But hey, even better - we're, like, a mere $400 off our goal!!! I can just picture those excited kids at the thought of their own water tank...not long now.

Keep those donations coming people - many thanks to the generous donors so far!

And if you're a "chocolate disciple" who still needs to hand in their money, or their left-over chocolate, I'd love you to get in touch. If you're in the area and you're planning to come to All Saints this Sunday evening, please bring it along then. Otherwise, you can get in touch by email or by leaving a comment!

That's all for now...until next time :)

ahhhh....blue!

2007-04-04T20:42:00.000+12:00

Yeah, that's right. Check out the counter NOW!!

Join me in jumping up and down!!!!!!!!!!!!

(for those who don't care to use their maths...or their calculator...we only need another $752.50).

Walk for Water - today!

2007-04-01T09:45:00.000+12:00

In poverty-stricken communities, a typical day includes a trip to the local river or well for water – this can take hours to complete, and is heavy work…

…often the water is dirty, carrying diseases and parasites that debilitate and continue a downward spiral of poverty.

In New Zealand, we simply cannot comprehend what it is like to live without clean, easily-accessible water.

Come along as we Walk for Water along the coastline to Red Rocks.
This is not a fundrasing event, but a chance to reflect on those who have to struggle each day for something we take for granted.

And to see some amazing coastline and marine life too!

The specs:

Event: Walk for Water
When: Sunday 1 April (today!)
Where: Red Rocks Coastal walk... but meet at the All Saints carpark, 90 Hamilton Road, Hataitai
When: Meet 1.30pm at All Saints carpark to start the walk at 2pm
Duration: The walk takes approximately 2 hours return (1 hour each way)
Bring: Strong, comfortable shoes and wind/rain proof clothing.

For more information, check out this PDF:
http://www.wellingtonrover.co.nz/redrockswalk.pdf

If you need to contact someone for directions, ring 027 415 5692 (sarah)

See you at 1.30pm!!

Team Asparagus

2007-03-31T13:38:00.000+12:00

Well, the quiz night was awwwwwesome!!

I have a confession: when the quiz night idea first came up, I wasn't really counting on it being a huge success. It seemed like a lot of work, and required a lot from both the organisers and participants. I just wasn't sure it would fly...

...boy do I stand (sit) corrected!!

Everything came together on the night: yummy nibbles and drinks, party atmosphere, questions that were amusing and challenging, skillful MC-ing, the music, the prizes, the team names and the craziness of the adolescent girls high on sugar...

We had a pretty wide range of people come along too, from the Golden Girls and the team who were Youthless to the rather younger and crazier Beautifully Outrageous Braniacs...and Seb (BOB). There were some who just wanted to know where their Free Pint was, and a team who thought they were Something Spunky. One, obviously 'annointed' group, took their name from Proverbs 8:1, another from a humble vegetable, and one had a frankly un-pronouncable name!

Not only that, be we raised close on $800 for the water tank!!!!!!
Not bad eh? [I'll update the counter when I know the amount for sure].

Congratulations goes to Team Asparagus for getting top score and taking out the grand prize (Fair Trade chocolate, McDonald's vouchers and a "mystery prize" each). My team tried hard, but we just couldn't beat the braniacs.
Well done also to the spot prize winners who took away bottles of wine, KFC and McDonalds vouchers, mouse pads, piggy banks, bath packs, and travel vouchers from United Travel and Flight Centre.

Check out photos of the quiz night courtesy of Simon Welsh (photos taken by moi, and Hamish).

And as for our organisers - the leaders and members of All Saint's senior youth group - stand up and take a bow!!

In particular:

Sarah and Joe McMenamin
Kylie and Manton Collings
Natalie Moreno
Lizzie Basham
Hamish Stewart
Jack Sutherland
Thomas Graham
Simon Welsh
Michael Welsh (for use of his laptop)

Matthew Bayliss (organiser-in-chief)

Also, thanks goes to all who donated prizes, particularly:

Flight Centre, Kilbirnie
Kilbirnie Photo & Camera
The Children’s Bookshop
BNZ, Kilbirnie
KFC, Kilbirnie
Kilbirnie Sports
Ballentynes, Kilbirnie
Kilbirnie Pharmacy
Newtown Mall Unichem Pharmacy
McDonalds, Newtown
Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre, Kilbirnie
Amadeus Hair and Sound Studio, Newtown
United Travel Kilbirnie

And thanks to you all for coming along!! Can't wait for the next great event, the
Walk for Water which is tomorrow! See you there :)

how brainy are your brains?

2007-03-29T20:29:00.000+12:00

Think it's about time you had them checked? Then do I have a deal for you!!

For just $10, you can come along and find out just how many un-necessary (but not necessarily useless) facts you have swimming around in your grey matter.

That's right, it's time for the water tank QUIZ NIGHT!!

And I don't mean any old quiz night. It's not like that lame pub quiz you went to a while back where they asked you questions like:
"what was Elvis Prestley's mother's favourite lipstick?" and
"in the 1918 All Black game against England, what colour socks was the NZ captain wearing?".

It won't follow the same lines at the newspaper "5 minute quiz", which gives you a measley 10 questions with which to show your intellectual prowess.

Oh no, this is the quiz night to beat ALL quiz nights! There will be questions spanning a range of different subjects you'll know and love...there may even be some which you've never even considered before...but are bound to be an expert in. Why? Because you're brainy! Yes you!

Want me to get to the point? Here are the specs...

Event: Quiz Night
When: Friday 30th March 2007 (that's tomorrow night...in case you were wondering)
Where: All Saints Hall, 90 Hamilton Road, Hataitai
Bring: yourself, your brains, your friends and $10
Teams: of 8 people, join one when you get there, or bring 7 friends
Incentive: $500 worth of prizes up for grabs!!!

Doors open at 7pm for a 7:30pm start. Drinks and nibbles are provided.

Need I say more? Perhaps I should add that if 100 people come then that's another thousand dollars for the water tank...

I might add that you're gonna have to try pretty darn hard to beat my table. Think I'm lying?
BRING IT ON!!

Seeya tomorrow night, 7pm :)

Didn't any of you guys ever go to Sunday school?

2007-03-24T11:11:00.001+12:00

Well the movie night was a great success - much fun had by everyone.

Thanks to everyone who came along, and especially to Ben, Teri, Diana,Natalie, Nathan, Melissa, Natasha, Ash (and all the other people I forget to name!) who organised and helped out. Particularly to Ash who did all the dishes almost singlehandedly!

Ice Age 2 was great (even if I only saw the end), and Raiders was...well...cheesy, chauvanistic, unbelieveable...but it had lots of explosions, fight scenes, "romance" and some great dialogue (see below).

We girls learnt that the best way to say "I love you" to the cute archeology lecturer is to write it on your eyelids.
The boys learnt that if a stoopid guy with a sword annoys you, just shoot him.

And we all learnt some very "interesting" theology... hehehe

So how much did we raise? Well I have to re-check it, and bank it, but I think it was somewhere in the region of:

$247.50

Not bad for a couple of movies at the church hall! Thanks everyone - I'll update the *new improved* water tank counter once it's all in the bank.

[many thanks to the messirs welsh for the awesome new counter].

Stay tuned for details about the next great event, the Quiz Night!

...........................
Indiana: The Ark of the Covenant, the chest that the Hebrews used to carry around the Ten Commandments.
Major Eaton: What, you mean THE Ten Commandments?
Indiana: Yes, the actual Ten Commandments, the original stone tablets that Moses brought down from Mt. Horeb and smashed, if you believe in that sort of thing...
[the officers stare at him blankly]
Indiana: Didn't any of you guys ever go to Sunday school?

[about the Ark]
Belloq: It's a transmitter, a radio for speaking to God.

Major Eaton: Good God!
Brody: Yes, that's what the Hebrews thought.

[Discussing the fate of the Ark]
Maj. Eaton: We have top men working on it now.
Indiana: Who?
Maj. Eaton: Top... men.

Indiana: I can only say I'm sorry so many times.
Marion: Well, say it again anyway.
Indiana: Sorry.

Belloq: What a fitting end to your life's pursuits. You're about to become a permanent addition to this archaeological find. Who knows? In a thousand years, even you may be worth something.
Indiana: Ha ha ha.
[under his breath]
Indiana: Son of a b*tch

Indiana: I'm gonna blow up the Ark, Rene.
Belloq: Your persistence surprises even me. You're going to give mercenaries a bad name.

Indiana: You want to talk to God? Let's go see him together, I've got nothing better to do.

Toht: You Americans, you're all the same. Always overdressing for the wrong occasions.

[Marion is being kidnapped]
Marion: You can't do this to me, I'm an AMERICAN.

Indiana: There's a big snake in the plane, Jock.
Jock: Oh, that's just my pet snake Reggie.
Indiana: I hate snakes, Jock. I hate 'em.
Jock: C'mon, show a little backbone, will ya?

2007-03-14T22:40:00.000+13:00

That's right, the first of our Water Tank fundraising events is COMING SOON.
And YOU'RE INVITED! Yes YOU!!

In case you can't see the image for any reason, here are the specs:

Event: movie night!
Date: Friday 23rd March
Movies:
For kids (or the young at heart!) - Ice Age 2.
For 'older' people (heh heh), the ultimate classic - Raiders of the Lost Ark
Times: Ice Age 2 starts 6pm. Raiders of the Lost Ark starts 8.30pm
Entry: by suggested donation, Kids $2, Adults $5 (goes directly to Water Tank fund)
Venue: All Saints Church Hall (THE place to be!), 90 Hamilton Road, Hataitai

We will have yummy choc-top icecreams and, of course, Fair Trade chocolate on sale for those of you with a sweet tooth.

See you there - w00t!

world water day - thursday 22 march 2007

2007-03-10T17:24:00.000+13:00

4.5 weeks and counting...

2007-03-02T21:03:00.000+13:00

Well, we're a week and a half into the official period of "Lent" now (check out Wikipedia's page on Lent for more details).

So we have roughly four and a half weeks to go.

In case you were wondering, the goal is to raise the total cost of the water tank by the end of Lent. Why? Well six weeks seemed like a do-able timeframe. And Lent seemed an appropriate subject. After all, it is symbolic for the forty days Jesus spent fasting in the desert. You don't find much water in the desert...

But hey, what's all this Jesus talk? I thought we were fundraising?

Okay - before anyone accuses us of religious shenanigans - let me explain. In previous posts, we've looked at some of the moral/statistical reasons for wanting to build this tank.
But there's more to it than that.

There are deeper reasons for wanting to make a difference for a bunch of school kids and teachers we've never met. After all, the people we want to help are our spiritual brothers and sisters.
(See Romans, a book of the New Testament)

You might think that's a bunch of mumbo jumbo. That's okay; after all, what you believe is up to you.

But for anyone who is interested, there are definitely some biblical and spiritual things to reflect on while we work towards raising the money for this water tank.

1) The importance of water in the bible

Do a simple search on the word "water", and you'll see it discussed in pretty much every book of the bible.
[Want to see for yourself? Bung the word "water" in the box at the bottom of this post and hit the search button.]

Jesus did some pretty amazing things with water. In the Gospels, he changed it into wine, he calmed the raging ocean, and he also walked on it! Go further back to the book of Exodus and you can read about Moses parting the waters of the Red Sea through the power of God.

Some interesting events happened around water wells:
- Isaac's servant found the woman destined to be Isaac's wife when lurking around a well (Genesis 24)
- David's mighty men risked their lives crossing the Philistine battle line to fetch water for their king-to-be from the well at Jerusalem's gate (1 Chronicles 11)
- Jesus met a Samaritan woman by a well, and revealed to her that anyone who drinks from God's "living water" will never thirst again (John 4).

2) The spiritual power of water

Water is used to symbolise the cleansing of our 'spiritual bodies', and the renewal of life, particularly through baptism. As a 'spiritual element', it plays a part in healing and belief systems across all cultures.

Water is so vital. It is both a physical and spiritual requirement, and anything we can do to make it available to others is worthwhile. Want to get involved? Check out the ideas in this post.

killer facts on water

2007-02-25T21:04:00.000+13:00

Well, as you can see, the tank is getting steadily fuller (check out the fundraising thermometer on the right -->), congratulations everyone!!

Thanks to all those people sending through donations by internet banking, you are brilliant! Remember, if you want to make a donation this way, flick us an email to get the account number.

For all those who have agreed to sponsor the tank, don't worry, we haven't forgotten about you - you'll get an email soon about the when/how of your donation. You are wonderful!!

We've ordered some more fair trade chocolate, so let us know if you're keen to sell some (or if you've already sold one box and want more!!).

Just to keep you in the mood, here are some killer facts on water, taken from the Oxfam NZ website:

* Two thirds of the Earth’s surface is covered by water but only 2.5 percent is freshwater. The total usable freshwater supply for ecosystems and humans is less than 1 percent.

* 1 billion people in our world live without safe drinking water and 2.6 billion people have no basic sanitation.

* In the next 24 hours, diarrhoea caused by unclean water and poor sanitation will claim the lives of 4,000 children.

* Diarrhoea alone kills 1.8 million children under five every year, but most cases can be prevented or treated.

* When combined, water, sanitation and hygiene reduce the number of deaths caused by diarrhoeal diseases by 65 percent.

* The weight of water that women in Africa and Asia carry on their heads is commonly 20kg, the same as the average NZ airport luggage allowance.

* The minimum estimated amount of safe water every individual needs to ensure their basic needs is 20 to 50 litres every day.

* The average person in the UK uses 135 litres of water every day.

* The average person in the developing world uses 10 litres of water every day for their drinking, washing and cooking. This is the same amount used in the average flush of an NZ toilet.

* Oxfam projects providing safe water, sanitation and hygiene education cost on average just $45 per head.

* It is 12 percent more likely that children will attend school if water is available within 15 minutes rather than one hour's walk.

* 11 percent more girls attend school when sanitation is available.

* The simple act of washing hands with soap and water can reduce diarrhoeal diseases by over 40 percent.

* 40 billion working hours are spent carrying water each year in Africa.

* $3000 pays for a sanitary toilets for up to 400 primary school students in Papua New Guinea.

* $85 pays for a sanitary toilet for a family of up to 10 people in rural India.

* In Papua New Guinea, one in ten children die before their fifth birthday. In New Zealand, one in one hundred children die before their fifth birthday.

Some more good links (courtesy of Mark & google, many thanks!):

Water and sanitaion (Unicef article)

400 million children deprived of safe water (Unicef article)

The Water Project (a similar project to ours, in Canada)

chocolate

2007-02-18T10:10:00.000+13:00

Yes, Michelle, it would be great if you could sell some chocolate for the water tank!

I'm ordering some more boxes this week, so if anyone else is interested, let me know!! For those of you who have already signed up (including Michelle), I'll have your chocolate and instructions to give to you tonight. If you can't make it tonight, please let me know and I'll deliver it.

what can I do to help?

2007-02-12T21:36:00.000+13:00

An excellent question!

As I mentioned in the first post, we're planning a number of different events, all in different stages of organisation.

But there's some things you can do right away:

1) Pray

This might be difficult if you're not the praying sort (whether or not you believe in God!). But if you are - and you're willing to spare some of your time - pleeeease put in the good word for us with 'the man upstairs', for "if you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." Matt.21
(yes, I realise that passage is highly debatable...that's a discussion for another day :) ).

2) Make a Donation

Yeah, it's the boring option - but you can spice it up if you want.
Try keeping a record of all the coffees, or muffins, or cokes or whatevers you have over the next six weeks. For every one of those you buy, how about you donate the same amount to the water tank fund?

Want the bank account number? Let us know: Send me the account number.
Note: you can only deposit money into this account through online or telephone banking.

3) Sponsor the Tank

Remember those TV adds, "sponsor a child for only a dollar a day"? Maybe you haven't felt able to commit to something like child sponsorship, but here's something a little more-doable.

Sponsor the tank - a dollar a day for the forty days of Lent (ie. $40 total). Want to do it? Sign up to be a sponsor by email: I want to sponsor the tank.

4) Become a "chocolate disciple"

Translation: you sell Fair Trade fundraising chocolate, and the profit goes to the water tank fund. It works the same way as other fundraising chocolate, only it's cooler, cos you're helping support people who often get a rough deal on the hard work they do. And you get a funky badge!

Want to give it a shot? Let us know here: I want to be a chocolate disciple

4) Comment if you have fundraising ideas, or if you want to help out with any of the events.

Thanks for reading - more coming soon!

what I really want to know is...

2007-02-12T21:09:00.000+13:00

...why a water tank?

I think we can all agree that having easy access to clean, fresh water is pretty vital for any human on earth. We use it to cook and clean, and our bodies require it, being around 70% water themselves.

But facts and figures don't always make this clear. Here is a story that broke my heart to read, and is a big part of why we want to raise funds for a water tank:

------------------

Exerpt taken from The Revolution: a field manual for changing your world, ed. Heather Zydek; 2006 (p.5)

...in parts of the world beyond the reach of bottled-water industry, there are twenty thousand funerals a day for people who struggled to survive without access to any form of clean water or proper sanitation.
The symptoms of this crisis are vast and heartbreaking.

In an orphanage outside of Kenya, a child squirms during a reading time. She excuses herself and goes to the bathroom. She lifts up her dress, pulls her underwear down, and finds a worm. It is four inches in length.
It was pushed out of her body by other worms, as this type of worm only leaves when there is overcrowding.

The worm eggs are ingested in the water she and the rest of the children drink. The parasites grow inside of the digestive tract, causing malnutrition.
Nearly all of the children from the orphanage have these worms.

------------------------

Nasty, huh? Well, if you're anything like me, you're not happy with this situation. So let's do something to change it!!

jump on in, the water's cool!

2007-02-11T10:34:00.000+13:00

Well, I thought there would be some interest in this project, but I'm overwhelmed by the support people have already shown.
Check out the thermometer on the right, we're already over a thousand dollars into our target, and we haven't even had the official kick-off yet!!

Thank you to all the people who have signed up to be involved already, by agreeing to sponsor the tank, or by being a "chocolate disciple" :)

There are some great events coming up between now and Easter...I haven't been able to nail down the planning as early as I'd like, but I'm getting some help now so we'll be on target soon. Stay tuned for more details!

God, you've already shown how faithful you can be in providing what we need for this project. I can't wait to see what you'll do over these next couple of months! Thank you.

huggies xxoo

PS: please vote in the opinon poll on the right. Shrove Tuesday is the 20th of February, and we'd probably have it in Hataitai, Wellington.
(sorry to those folks who couldn't use the poll earlier...I made it a litte too short, so you couldn't see the "vote" button. Should be fixed now!)