Greetings!

This was a dispatch I wrote from the field during our recent Afghanistan Project in Dec ’11. Wanted to shed some further light on what I feel is truly a ground breaking initiative.

I knew this Afghan project would be significant, but today… today was hands down one of the best experiences I’ve had since starting W4W. We’ve spent the last 3 days embedded with the Wolfhounds, learning all about life in a war-zone – living in their barracks, eating with them, etc…

FOB Bostick // Town of Nari

Of course I see parallels between some of their principles and those of W4W. I have felt this way ever since we had the privilege of working side by side with the 82nd Airborne in Haiti. The entire military system is founded upon honor, respect, bravery, and discipline (to name a few)… but what they rarely get credit for is their compassion. Not only for one another, but for the local cultures they work amongst while deployed. I saw it in Haiti and I’ve seen it again here – these soldiers genuinely want to help the Afghan people to stop living in fear of the Taliban… and ultimately, help them stabilize their country in the process. That said, when I think of this project – the partnership between W4W and The Wolfhounds, I’m becoming aware that we are all a part of something very very grand… something bigger than all of us as individuals. In addition to the obvious benefits the filter program will have on this region, we have created a unique opportunity to change several perceptions surrounding this war – and war in general.

Waves for Water - Demonstration for Army at FOB Bostick

One of the main implementing strategies of W4W has always been a “train the trainer” approach, which is something we actually lifted from military DNA, long ago. It’s basically empowering people through a tiered system that enables each level to do what they do best. For instance, this project – we spent the first day here on base training a selected group of team leaders from this battalion. They are the ones who are constantly interacting with the communities in the region and have personal relationships with some of the key local figureheads. By empowering the first tier (the soldiers), we solidified them as the ones that would lead this project and see it through long after we were gone.

W4W trains troops on filtration

The next step was for the team of newly trained soldiers to coordinate a “shura” (Afghan for meeting or gathering to discuss important matters) to pass the training onto a hand picked group of village elders and/or community leaders. Then, based off of their extensive knowledge of the local communities, those enlisted individuals would devise a distribution plan for each of their villages. This is an old model… We’ve used this same approach in Haiti, with the ultimate goal being that we – the foreigners, do not retain any of the power once the program has been implemented.

Shura at FOB Bostick

This system really helps to integrate something foreign, like new technology, into a community – with the trust and understanding it needs to have staying power. If we try to push this solution directly onto a family in Afghanistan, the likelihood of them trusting us, and ultimately using it after we’re gone, is much lower than if it is presented to them by a friend or a community figure they know and trust. The ultimate goal for us is to implement a program this way, do an assessment of the region months later, and find that the families who are thriving because of it – have no idea who we are. Their relationship is with the schoolteacher or medical clinic that provided them with the filter system, not the guys from Waves For Water. If that is the case, we have done our job perfectly.

FET team member giving demo to Afghan woman

Today I saw cultural divides fall in a matter of minutes. We accompanied a group of female soldiers and their FET (female engagement team) team, lead by a Lieutenant named Lauren Luckey, into the nearby town of Nari. The FET team is tasked with trying to engage local Afghan women and work with them to help stabilize their communities. Women are simply not allowed to be seen in public – they wear full burkhas that leave no percentage of skin exposed. There isn’t even a slit for their eyes, only a little mesh window in the fabric for them to look through. Because of the relationships that LT Luckey and her team had forged a few of us men were allowed to be present during the demonstration. The rules and traditions of this region are so deep rooted that an invitation like this is literally unheard of. We watched in a secured courtyard as the FET team gave the very demonstration that we’d given them on base a day prior. We watched in awe as the brave few women who chose to stay – only 3 out of 10 stayed for meeting because they heard that (American) men would be present, started assembling and using the filter systems. The finale came when a young girl, a student of the school, took what might have been the first sip of clean water in her life, after filtering the water she normally drank – urban run-off collected from a ditch outside the school walls – animals visibly defecating in it up-stream.

Afghan girl drinks clean filtered water for the first time

Today was a good day…

~ Jon Rose

Watch video on Waves for Water in Afghanistan with the Wolfhounds from the US Army.

Christian Troy, Jon Rose & CPT Brabner

I write today with the great excitement of introducing our recent project in Afghanistan with you. About six months ago a US Army Captain by the name of Michael Brabner reached out to us through our website. His battalion, called The Wolfhounds, is stationed in Northern Afghanistan in the Kunar Provence. He contacted us to see if we’d be interested in doing a project to help the Afghan communities in his unit’s AO (area of operation). He said that there were about 5 villages in his area and none of them had access to potable water. Apparently the Kunar River, which every village is built along, is their only source of water. And since everything (I mean EVERYTHING) is dumped into it, waterborne illnesses crippling these communities is almost indefinite.

Afghan Village

Like many of the places around the world we work, these type of illnesses basically become a part of everyday life – for people in these places, there is just no way around it, no other choice… So they continue to get sick and even die from problems that are completely preventable. This is the very reason Waves for Water exists. Our single most important purpose is to bring the great solutions that already exist directly to the problem – stopping the widespread sickness and senseless deaths that follow.

Afghan Boy in Nari

So in the case of Afghanistan, CPT Brabner had relatively simple questions – would our program work there? And if so, would we be willing to partner up them to implement it? Right away I was deeply struck by the possibility of being able to help these people that were in such great need to the seemingly inaccessible.

Our translator Sahar telling Afghan women about filter system

It’s no secret that Afghanistan is considered to be a hostile place at the moment, especially for Americans. But the majority of the local population have the same basic needs as anywhere else – and the fact that it is still a kinetic war zone, brings the likelihood of humanitarian assistance down to a dramatic degree.

Filter distribution. Photo: Logan MB / Eyeconic Images

This brings me to my point – who is there, all the time? The US military. They are stationed throughout the entire country with great infrastructure in place. Whether or not you agree with the reasoning for being there in the first place doesn’t matter at this point – we are there. So it is even more important to make the absolute best of being there, which CPT Brabner and his crew are doing. Their first objective is to keep the insurgents at bay, so that the majority of the population can go about their lives without living in fear of being bullied and harassed by “mafia-like” Taliban forces. And in addition, through projects like ours, this military unit has actively sought out new innovative ways to help these villagers beyond their basic orders.
This is a pivotal time for US Operations in Afghanistan – I feel that this project could be instrumental in changing the conversation from the negative reports we so often hear in the media, to some of the positive impacts that are taking place – like this W4W mission! We are embarking on a path that could help to reinvent some aspects of the existing military model, and the perceptions that follow it. The military is not just a symbol of a nations strength – it is also a network. One that reaches far and wide, with great structure and organization throughout. If we can tap into this network and create program where every single military unit has water filters that they can distribute during their deployments – we are talking serious global impact!

Afghans recieving filters. Photo: Logan MB / Eyeconic Images

If our mission is to get clean water to every single person who needs it, then we need all hands on deck. This is one great example out of many that need to happen if we are going to achieve our goal. When CPT Brabner reached out, I could tell that he was genuine in his attempts to help the Afghan people. The military doesn’t get much credit for its humanitarian efforts – and while it might not be their primary focus during deployment, they do embark on a number of humanitarian initiatives… I saw it first hand just after the earthquake in Haiti when we worked side by side with the 82nd Airborne. Then, again, months later during our project with the UN Military – also in Haiti… and now in Afghanistan with The Wolfhounds.

US Army CPT Brabner & Jon Rose preppimg filters. Photo: Logan MB / Eyeconic Images

Town of Nari: Girl getting water for the first time. Photo: Logan MB / Eyeconic Images

Being raised by hippie parents and choosing a career path as a pro-surfer, I had literally zero experience with the military before starting my work in Haiti. The closest I ever came to the military was trying to sneak my way on to Camp Pendleton in San Diego because it is known to have good waves on base. But now having logged some serious time with our armed forces in two countries, I can speak with confidence when saying how incredibly grateful I am of their service. It is moments like these that truly showcase the greatness in humanity.

With the first phase of this mission already completed, Waves For Water and The Wolfhounds have effectively provided 20,000 Afghan’s with access to clean water. The project is now gaining momentum throughout the military chain of command and the private sector alike – phase two has already been funded (thank you Bill Nelson & HBO) and is set to launch in January with 500 more filters that will provide an additional 50,000 Afghan’s with clean water.

Please spread the word and help to bring a positive light to an otherwise dark subject, like war.

I’ve attached a sampler of personal images from the trip… We have a lot more (as well as some video content) that we will be sharing soon. Stay tuned…

~ Jon Rose

W4W+Hurley+Nike = GameChanger Kit (Phase 2) from Waves For Water on Vimeo.

We always feel good about giving the gift of clean water. In my opinion, water is a god given right – like air…

But the fact that there are still such staggering statistics, such as – 1 out of 6 people do not have access to clean drinking water – means there is obviously a hole in the equation. I say it all the time, but there is absolutely no reason that ANYONE should die from dirty water when solutions, like the simple water filtration devices we use, exist. So our primary goal has been to fill that hole by simply connecting the brilliant technology that already exists with the people who need it. It’s nobodies fault, there’s just missing links in the chain sometimes. In this case, the gifted minds who created this incredible technology did their job perfectly – they created user-friendly devices that can make almost any contaminated water, potable. But it isn’t necessarily their job to identify the individuals around the world who so desperately need them… or be the ones to deliver them for that matter. And the folks around the world who are in such dire need solutions like this, don’t have the slightest idea that they exist. That’s where we come in… and on behalf of W4W I will say we are honored to play a roll, of any size, in the big vision that so many people around the world share, which is – clean water for everyone!

I am very proud that we as individuals can always do our part in this fight… and make a difference one person at a time. Actually, it is inspiring to know that one person can provide a hundred people with clean water by putting just one filter in their luggage the next time they travel. This concept was obviously the inception for our Clean Water Couriers program – which, at this point, has legitimately turned into a movement. I like fantasizing about the one for one model – each of us individually doing our part to help one another, with the end result being a complete eradication of the problem. It really is the strength in numbers philosophy and I do believe it CAN be done. And when it is… the credit will not be be shared by a few, but equally with everyone that did their part, big or small.

That said, there are ways to speed up the process and one of the best is to form solid partnerships with other individuals, organizations, corporations, or groups who simply share the same passions for correcting the number of imbalances we face in the world today – in this case: clean water. Whether it’s a merger of large groups or one person doing their part, the fundamentals stay the same – what separates the two models is scale. For example, through our partnership with Hurley more people around the world have clean water – period. Without a partnership of this nature we would still be happily powering away, but the scale would be dramatically different. During our last trip to Haiti proof of this point was made very clear.

We went down to complete phase 2 of the GameChanger Kit project we launched last fall. The original concept for this project was simple: sport + water = GameChanger Kit. We decided that everyone in the communities we target obviously need (and benefit from) clean water… but we felt by adding a sport element into the equation it could, at the very least, provide them with a much needed escape from all the other incredibly hard problems they face each and everyday. Soccer, being the most universally played sport in the world, was the obvious choice. So for this project, in addition to the normal water filters we include, each bucket contained a soccer ball (and little cones to mark the field). We piloted the project in last Sep by distributing kits to two small villages in the Leogone area (epicenter of earthquake). The results were priceless… it was the first time since I started doing this work that all I thought of at the end of the day was the sound of children laughing. People are always grateful when we provide them with clean water, but in giving them an opportunity to participate in a playful activity such as soccer, truly was a game-changer for them… and for us!

The power of collaboration… is a beautiful thing! This time around, we provided access to clean water and sport to 80,000 people – That’s the scale I’m talking about! I feel incredibly lucky to have partnered with such committed and conscious partners as Nike and Hurley on this project… and furthermore, the partners on the ground that helped us get these kits into the communities that needed them most: Fritz Pierre-Louis, who really is the backbone of so much that we do in Haiti… and GOALS, a great grass roots organization that helped distribute the kits throughout their soccer driven community programs across the country.

I have reached a conclusion through the countless projects we participate in across the globe, that to correct the imbalances of the world we must first make the choice to do our part… but ultimately, the battle will be won by us joining hands and fighting together…

Attached are some of the images I shot with my phone during this project… but for a more comprehensive viewing, please see this amazing video shot and edited by Tom Aiello – http://vimeo.com/27752717

Thanks!
Jon

The beneficiaries of the GameChanger kit

Boy filling his cup from W4W filter and other boy drinking filtered water

Boys filling cup from W4W filter system

Families Getting filter system demo

Family on Moto with their new W4W filter system

Fritz and Tom DeBlasis handing out soccer ball to kids after Filter demo

Kids chasing new soccer ball from GameChanger Kit

Kids waiting while clean water flows into their cup

No rules on the soccer field

The Godfather Jack Rose showing kids the GameChanger Kit

Woman walking home with new W4W filter system

Mother Nature has certainly been committed to getting our attention lately… the last couple years have been riddled with an overwhelming amount of natural disasters.

I believe that all this is cyclical when speaking in terms of the “big picture”, but am also aware that it’s a cycle that none of us have been around long enough to experience before. In my line of work, these are the types of things that I think about late at night. That said, I am happy that we’ve created a platform (W4W) in which we can help the people adjust and adapt to whatever the universe throws at them next… because all of this stuff seems stranger than fiction at times, and then we start to rethink and adapt to the change… ultimately allowing us to persevere.

There is nothing easy about doing a trip like this. Travel to this specific region of the Amazon is painfully long any way you slice it… I did the math and from LA to our final destination (anchorage on the river) is over 60 hours of travel. But in my opinion it is always the hard journeys that we remember. Adversity has a damn fine way of leaving it’s mark on us… testing us… allowing us to see who we really are… and more importantly, who we want to become.

Guga lying underneath the hammocks

Example of homes we supplied filters to

After countless hours of travel we boarded the Rey Benedito (our boat/home for the next 5 days), in the city of Macapa. The boat was a three story steel beast with all the Amazonian charm we could have hoped for – I swear there were colonies of insects that were entirely indigenous to that boat. Almost any boat on the Amazon is set up for its passengers to sleep on open decks in hammocks. The Rey Benedito was no different – Once on board, our entire crew claimed slivers of space next to one another on the second deck. Each sliver was equipped with a hammock and mosquito net to drape over the top. It is awesome to watch how people adapt to a new environment – the methods in which they create a familiar and secure space in an unfamiliar setting. In this case everyone was given the same amount of space… and tools (hammocks, netting, and rope)… but each persons approach in transforming the space into their own, was remarkably different. It’s a psychological experiment really…

As I said before the concept for our mission to the Amazon was simple – surf the infamous Pororoca (tidal bore wave created by extreme tides during a full moon) and deliver water filters to riverside villagers along the way. Obviously this environment was far different than most of the places we’ve worked before – Haiti, Pakistan, Japan, etc… and the way we approached our work this time was significantly different as well. Most places we go, there is limited access to water period – clean or dirty! In this case, there is an abundance of water… it’s all around you… everywhere… actually, it is one of the biggest sources of fresh water on our planet – it’s just not clean to drink.

There were a lot of firsts on this trip but I can say for sure that we have NEVER rode the water we cleaned. For five days we lived on and surfed the very water that we drank. In my opinion this was a huge breakthrough in the work that we do. If we launch a program that focuses on all the abundant fresh water sources around the world… and taught people how to clean it – the number of senseless deaths (whom are mostly children) in those regions would be incredibly reduced, if not completely eradicated.

Amazon Princess that is now protected from the dangers of dirty water

I say this all the time but any death related to dirty water is an utter shame. There is simple technology that already exists – like the filters we use – that can prevent these deaths in an instant.

To be continued…

Jon

Image from previous trip 4 years ago

Waves For Water has always been rooted in adventure… It was basically founded on the lifestyle that I lived for 15+ years prior. The initial idea was simple – continue to exercise my passion for travel and adventure and do some good in the process…

I never much related with the Peace Corps model – drop everything you’re doing, join a group, and go live somewhere for 2+ years. I have nothing against those who do it this way… but for me, this type of rigid structure just doesn’t resonate… I like to be more nimble and independent. I love the thrill of discovery and the mysteries along with it. I didn’t know it at the time, but all the years I spent as a globetrotting surfer before starting W4W directly served as crucial stepping stones for the life I lead today. I’m sure this is true with most people on some level… it’s a form of evolution – taking the things you learned in the past and applying them in the future. But in my case I know there was a distinct lineage transferred, not only from one chapter to the next, but also through generations of family members before me.

Now I find myself here – 30k feet in the air flying over central Brazil, headed for a city in the Amazon region called Macapa. It is the last big city along the Amazon river before it converges with the Atlantic. We will catch a boat in Macapa and motor 20 hours down river to the mouth. We will spend three days on that portion of the river – surfing the infamous Pororoca (tidal bore wave created by extreme tides during a full moon) and delivering water filters to all of the riverside villagers along the way. There is an incredible need for clean water in these areas since the majority of the people live in what are called “Stilt Villages” – clusters of wooden structures that are built on stilts with walkways connecting them.

Their entire life happens with water beneath them… in many cases these people hardly ever put their feet on solid ground. They just paddle in little dugout canoes from one village to the next. They’re probably the closest thing to amphibious people on our planet. These conditions make it incredibly hard to access potable water. Everything is mixed together by the water below – like a giant petri dish.

I have been to this area once before, about 4 years ago, to film a commercial for Japanese auto manufacturer, Nissan. The commercial was based around following a few surfers on an adventurous mission through the Amazon to surf the Pororoca (of course doing a large portion of traveling – via jungle roads – in the newest Nissan SUV). I have to give them serious props for actually filming a real mission rather than just staging something to resemble an adventure like so many of the cheesy commercials out there. Nope, it was real as it gets… the Amazon was no joke! Raw and exposed… it felt like someone had thrown us right into the middle of a National Geographic magazine. We had an unparalleled adventure and amazing time surfing the wave that some call the longest in the world. It travels from the Atlantic, continuously upstream, for 80 miles – truly one of the worlds great phenomenon’s.

I always knew I’d be back… and once I started W4W it was even more on my radar. I had been there an seen the needs with my own eyes and now I have a tangible way to help. Over the last few months W4W has been doing a lot of work in Brazil. It started with a disaster response mission to the catastrophic floods that happened near Rio earlier this year. Ever since, with the help of the honorary Brazilian chapter of W4W (made up of Vava Ribiero and Guga Ketzer), we have been developing new projects to get more people clean water. Now, our Amazon project is soon to be checked off the list – thanks to the sponsors that made it possible: Ambev, Nextel, Hurley, and Loducca. I must say, it’s really great to see Brazilian based corporations (along with California based Hurley International), stepping up and taking the initiative to help their country. It’s a model that we hope will perpetuate and grow to a scale that eventually provides water to every single person that needs it. When it’s all said and done, this mission down the Amazon will provide clean water for 10,000 people in some of the most remote regions along the river. It also further authenticates the W4W design – follow your passion first, then plug a cause based element into it. Doing it this way allows us to thrive in who we are and makes our ability to help, that much more effective. As I said before things like travel, adventure, and discovery are some of the main things that drive me so this project was directly created from those elements. Besides, with all the disasters we’ve responded to lately it’ll just feel nice to set out on a more normal pace, do our part, and have a massive amount of fun in the process!

Every journey we do with W4W is an adventure and through the many experiences we’ve had there’s one thing that always shines brighter than the rest – going to sleep knowing that you did everything in your power to in some way help another human being, is truly what life is all about – everything else along the way is a bonus.

Wish us luck!

Jon

The decision to launch a relief effort for Japan came easy. Just one glimpse of the news after the March 11th quake/tsunami hit, triggered every sensor I have for this work. It was a “no-brainer”.

It’s the same formula every time – Utter devastation = people in need. And in these unfortunate circumstances, Waves For Water is in a position to help people with one of their most essential needs  – water!

I’ve said this before but it’s always hard to go to a place where the needs are many and accept that you’re only helping with one of them. It’s so easy to get caught in the head space of trying to fix all their problems… I remember in the days shortly after the Haiti quake last year, we’d give an entire village access to clean water and I’d still drive away with my head in my lap…gutted because I couldn’t help them with all the other needs they had. But through many experiences like this I started to retrain my initial thought process and really harness the the one thing we do. It’s the age old philosophy of focusing on one thing and doing it well, rather than splitting focus between many things and doing them all averagely. The same basic philosophy applied in Japan.

But it was the decision of how to navigate the VERY serious nuclear radiation situation that was our biggest challenge preceding our mission. This was/is an x-factor that no one has a real answer for. It’s the invisible enemy… Since starting W4W, I have always made decisions from my gut and it’s rarely lead me astray. It’s sort of been my mandate – listen to my gut and then stand behind my decision. But this was a whole new deal… we’ve gone to some of the most destitute places in the world, but never has something like radiation been a factor. All of these components made my brain cramp during the week following this catastrophe.

I knew that this was a far different scenario than I’ve ever encountered before. For one, every place we’ve worked needs the filters long before any disaster that may bring us there. They are all developing countries that have daily struggles with the most basic of needs – water, food, shelter, education, etc… This is NOT the case for a place like Japan. Not only do they have a solid infrastructure in place, they are a major player in the global community. We actually encountered many naysayers when I announced our plans to do something in Japan. I only had my gut feeling and the simple rebuttal – ‘it doesn’t matter where these types of catastrophes happen, the needs are always the same’. Of course I knew that anyone we were to give a filter system to would eventually get their municipal water back up and running, providing no further use for our system. That said, the devastation from this event is so large in scale that it could very easily be 6+ months for the local authorities to do so… especially for the more remote areas along the coastline North of Sendai. I have been through these areas before as a surfer and they’re very tight little beachside communities that survive off the ocean and agriculture. Our plan was simple – help restore just a little normalcy back to these humble communities during a time when everything (literally) has been turned upside down. I thought, if we can just ease one of their worries then it’s completely worth it. And it was…

My associate Christian Troy and I arrived in Tokyo on April 5th at 7:15pm. We had 100+ filters (can provide 10,000+ people with clean water) on us and were picked up by American pro surfer (and longtime Japan resident) Danny Melhado and local Japanese surfer/musician, Toruman. Per my instructions, they had already stocked the van with buckets and other supplies for our mission North. As always I like to bring as few people from America as possible on these missions. I believe its best to enlist locals and empower them to help their country, with us just serving as a conduit of sorts.

Our strategy was to stay along the stretch of coastline considerably North of Sendai, thus never being within a 100 mile radius of the Fukushima nuclear plant. However, there was one minor flaw in this plan – to get to this region we would have to pass through the Fukushima Prefecture. We looked on every map and they all suggested that for a short stretch of highway we would be about 30 miles from the plant. This raised my nerves… but we figured that it was a short enough period, we’d keep the car sealed up, and just try to drive as fast as possible.

We drove from the airport, seven hours through the night, and reached a city called Kesennuma just before dawn. What we encountered upon first light will be engrained in my memory forever. Apocalyptic is the only word that comes to mind… it felt like we had accidentally entered onto a Hollywood sci-fi movie set as we weaved on freshly plowed roads, through mountains of debris 6-10 foot high. There was not a sole in sight… just complete utter devastation. We saw cars, upside down, balancing on top of 5 story buildings. And boats, dry-docked, on what used to be a houses… tanker ships in the middle of roads… and buildings skinned down to their now twisted and torqued steel frames. These were just the things we could identify…beyond them lay a sea of debris. Peoples lives, mulched up into an unrecognizable mass. Every so often we’d come across a VHS tape or a picture from a personal photo album… to a backpack or muddied up teddy bear. It was these things that brought us back to reality and humanized everything. Because honestly, the magnitude of damage – the sheer scale, was so hard to comprehend. It was truly stranger than fiction.

We went through town after town like this… entire communities completely wiped out. The Japanese authorities were doing an incredible job clearing the roads so that they could get into even the most severe pockets and start providing some relief for the many thousands of displaced citizens. We quickly determined that the best candidates for our program were the little neighborhoods that were right along the edge of where the tsunami waters stopped. These people have houses that are still standing yet they have no water, plumbing, or electricity. And in many cases they could see the wreckage of their town/neighbors from their doorstep. The people who’s homes were in the tsunami’s path are starting completely from scratch – either trying to go to another region and stay with relatives or shacked up in a temporary shelter nearby with thousands of other victims. The shelters were being delivered water and rations daily by the Gov, but it was the people around the perimeter, like I mentioned, that were being left in the shadows – their houses may be in tact but with the power & sanitation out, no real source of food or clean water, the frigid climate, and the looming radiation threat – they had been stripped down to basic fundamental survival.

Often times we’d just drive through a little pocket of homes and look for people that were boiling water over makeshift fire-pits in their driveway. They were the ideal candidates for our program. In typical W4W guerilla fashion we’d simply walk up their driveways and jump straight into it – telling them that we were volunteers… that we know they have an overwhelming amount of needs, but we could at least help with one of them. The idea is simple – by giving them a filter system they could then use the time they were spending gathering wood and boiling water each day, towards the many other challenges they faced…

In one case we saw an elderly woman washing clothes by hand in her driveway. As we approached her house we saw that most of her family was there too doing different chores and trying to make sense of things. They were on a slight hill and every house below them was annihilated. The water even reached their home and caused some flooding but didn’t demolish the structure. They had all their furniture and possessions out in the driveway trying to organize and dry them out. There was no men around because they were all out in the harder hit areas helping the local authorities with bigger jobs such as search & rescue, clearing of roads, etc… We found this to be the case in most towns we visited. The elderly woman’s daughter, also a mother (of three younger children who were helping as well), was the subject of our filter bucket demonstration. We explained our mission and then offered her family a system. She looked at us and started to cry. She asked us why her…? Why her family? What did they do to deserve this help? It was at this moment that my original intuition about finding pockets of people that, for some reason were being overlooked, was validated. A friend of mine recently made an analogy about this – “It’s like finding good waves…it might not be on a map but there’s always something there.” To me, it is these touching moments that symbolize everything we do and why we do it…

I always knew this trip would be a far cry from any other missions we’ve done around the world… the nuclear situation alone proves that. But the sheer scope of this disaster is what truly baffles me… it really feels endless… So, as I’ve said before, all we can do is our part – apply ourselves as much as we can and call it a day. With one foot in front of the other, Japan will rebuild… It will be very slow, but they are incredibly driven people – founded on respect and honor. They will persevere…

We are assessing all the intel gathered on this first mission and will devise phase 2 of this project accordingly. We will continue to be an ongoing resource/voice for this cause and have marked our commitment to it with this first mission. We will carry on raising funds and awareness throughout Japan’s long road to recovery, but one of the best ways for people to help is to spread the word and not let this cause die with the short attention span of the mass media. If people want to support our Japan Plan specifically they can donate directly to this cause (just type Japan Plan in memo box) on our site here – http://www.wavesforwater.org/donate/
Or by sending a check (again writing Japan Plan in memo) to:

Waves For Water
527 San Vicente Blvd. #210
Santa Monica, CA 90402

Lastly, if it comes time to launch phase 2 of this initiative and we determine that the services W4W provides aren’t the best solutions for their current needs, then we will donate all the money we’ve raised to another organization or project that we feel is better suited. If this is the case, we will have full disclosure on our site showcasing who we chose, why we chose them, and a thorough chronicling of their efforts.

Thanks for your support!
Jon

I’m currently in Brazil, launching a relief effort to help the victims of the recent floods that claimed over 900 lives and left 20,000+ people homeless… The main region that got hit is called Serra – a mountainous area about 2 hrs drive from Rio. In the same week that Brazil got slammed with what their calling the worst disaster on record, there was massive flooding in Sri Lanka, Australia, and the Philippines. This stuff is so much bigger than us… It’s human nature to try and establish some level of control when faced with adversity… but the main lesson I keep being reminded of is that we are NOT in control. At any given time, nature can do its thing… and in a matter of seconds – life as we know it, is changed forever…

From all the first hand accounts we got in up there, people said everything seemed to digress within minutes. It was raining for a few days, but nothing crazy… then it took a turn for the worse and started to downpour. Minutes later, walls of water and mud (several feet high) plowed through the region – burying everything in its path. The nature of the destruction looked exactly like the Tsunami wreckage I saw in Sumatra a couple months back. That’s how people here are describing it – a Tsunami of mud. The crazy thing in this case is that a “mud Tsunami” doesn’t recede like in the ocean. When a tidal wave of mud comes plowing through it buries everything and then just dries where ever it ends up. This means a there are completely new landscapes formed – fresh foundations laid on top of existing ones. I remember walking along a path and coming across a car tire, half submerged in the ground… I then realized a car was attached to it – upside down, buried beneath the ground.

The military officers we talked to said that what we saw was just the tip of the iceberg. They said there are areas deep in the mountains, only visible during their helicopter assessments, that were virtually erased. No one exactly knows how many people were living in those pockets so, at this point, it’s hard to make a calculated assessment on actual lives lost.

This particular mission has been an incredible learning experience, in that I really put the W4W model to the test. It was a shining example of the guerilla style humanitarianism we promote – just a group of like minds pulling their resources together for the common good. Or more simply put – doing, not talking!

My good friend Vava Ribeiro was the catalyst down here that rallied his network into helping… which ultimately led to his friend, Guga Ketzer (who works at Brazilian based ad agency – Loducca), pulling in support from Movimento Cyan (a project of global beverage brand – Ambev) to help fund the initial phase of this mission. The crew here named the project Agua Pura. Serra Viva. All of this happened in a matter of days and before I knew it, I was leaving LAX with 200 filters in my luggage. This amount of filters alone can provide clean water for over 20,000 people!

The fact that one person can carry tools for the needs of 20,000 people is remarkable. An operation like this is really just made up of individuals, doing their part – nothing more, nothing less. Without one of them the mission would fail. But when you look at each role individually, it couldn’t be more simple. Everyone just does what they do best and the end result is more people get clean water. The answers to most problems are usually only found when we break them into parts and tackle one at a time. This is no different.

Early on in the mission, a local church that was collecting and distributing aid supplies to the region, became our stage for the assembly of all 200 kits. People came out of the wood work to help our make-shift assembly line. At one point while sorting the filters, I looked around and saw, through a sea of buckets, Vava drilling the holes, Guga (and handful of locals) organizing each kit, and I thought – this is everything good about humanity, distilled into a basic, yet very tangible, moment.

We are all in this together – the experience we call life… I’m proud to have these examples as a reminder.

More to come…

Valeu!!
J

From all of us at Waves For Water, from the children at La Maison du Sourire, and from Pastor Nidaud who says he can never express it enough – THANK YOU!

– Waves For Water

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of the quake that rocked this country to its core…

I write today from a place of great appreciation and humility…

Yesterday was a day of mourning…and a day of rebirth. The city streets were vacant of their normal traffic congestion…the air was eerily still…yet there was an intense spiritual electricity running through my body the entire day. Everyone was out walking around in the streets, dressed up in their finest church attire. When the clock struck 4:53pm you could hear voices chanting from different pockets of the city. A city united…

It’s obvious to me that this last year has been incredibly life altering for so many involved with this event, but I wouldn’t dare pretend to know what it’s like for anyone but myself.

I’ve spent the better part of my years surfing and adventuring around the globe…and there has been no shortage of lessons learned along the way. Actually my experiences on the road have defined who I am today. In my opinion, the exposure to different cultures and beliefs systems are exactly what helps us develop and progress as individuals. From lessons in basic street smarts…respect…acceptance…and local traditions – the vast diversity of world is truly our best source of education! That said, the polarizing lessons in humanity that I’ve learned this past year have really trumped everything. I am constantly humbled by the overwhelming compassion and perseverance of the Haitian people – they are strongest people I’ve ever seen.

We have a fairly simple, yet stark, bottom line in regards to Waves For Water – get as many people access to clean water, as quickly and efficiently as possible…and no matter how much our efforts scale, this bottom line will always remain.

It was just a little over a year ago that I brought 10 filters in my bag on a trip to Indonesia – kicking off my first W4W mission. Since then the growth trajectory of our little NGO has been surreal.

We just completed a project with Compassion International that consisted of 16,000 filters for Haiti. Combining that with our other partnerships throughout the year (UN, JP HRO, and countless other smaller groups) we’ve distributed over 30,000 filters to this country. The simple math of flow rate per filter suggests that 2,000,000+ people now have access to clean water because of this. Last Sunday we started another project with Compassion International that will supply 40,000 more filters to their widespread network of church affiliates across the country. I’m very proud to be working with all our partners – big and small.

Two days ago we went to a small orphanage in Leogane and distributed 4 filters to them. We spent the better part of 3 hours there. The day before that, we did training and delivery of 1,300+ filters to one of the networks for the Compassion International project.

There’s obviously a big difference in scale between the two but with respect to our bottom line I mentioned before, each scenario is of equal importance to me. This was so clear to me during our time at the orphanage. Within minutes of setting up the first system there we’re kids drinking clean water out of it – a direct and very measurable difference…just like that!

I love the idea of this solution reaching people that will never know us because it was given to them by one of their own… this is how we’ve always operated – train a few solid community representatives and then let them distribute to their people… But it’s always amazing to see the difference you’ve made right before your own eyes. What we experienced that day at the orphanage was a beautiful representation of our work, distilled down to the purest core – one human helping another.

Lastly, next time you’re out with friends or loved ones, raise your glass in honor of your brothers and sisters down here… cause believe me when I say, your voices are heard.

Much love,
Jon

Fritz had learned of a Haitian National soccer game that was taking place – Mirebalais (epicenter of Cholera outbreak) VS Leogane. The plan was to show up just prior to the game and present both teams with the few brand new Nike soccer balls that we had left over from our Game Changer Kit project.

We were to give each team a water filtration system so they could have it running at all their practices, games, etc in the future… Fritz being the “unofficial” mayor of Leogane had it all lined up… we showed up gave quick demo on the filter system to each team and then pumped up the new balls.

After the ref’s checked them out and gave the nod, I walked out into the field and presented the new balls to the captain of each team. Whenever I’m with Fritz, I get to experience the REAL Haiti and I would very much like to take this opportunity to thank him… thank you brother!

We watched the rest of the game from the sidelines and experienced the simple joys of sport… and community. It is these types of activities that, for at least a moment, take away all the pain and suffering these people have endured… and just brings them back to the basic fundamentals of happiness – loving, laughing, and sharing a cold beer!

Just before leaving back to PAP we stopped at a nearby youth group that Fritz knew about and gave them a filter system. When we showed up the teacher was giving a lesson in hygiene to about 20 kids. Was perfect timing for us as we were able to not only educate them directly about drinking safe clean water, but also, teach them to use the filtered water for hand washing, etc… these can be the little differences that decides whether one of these kids gets Cholera or not. It really is that that simple…

On the ride home I found myself pondering the whole bureaucratic side to this work (opposite of what we had just experienced in Leogane) when dealing with other NGO’s or local governments etc… and how recently the work seems to have entered a new phase in which the bureaucracy is showing its ugly face more and more… to be expected, I know, but still makes my skin crawl a bit at times. I didn’t come from this world. I don’t have “traditional” training in how to play the game. We look at things through a different lens and it allows us to make some pretty dynamic decisions that have ultimately helped a lot of people. That said, I am also humbled daily because of it. I have made plenty of bad decisions along the way out of pure inexperience, but those bad decisions are always what lead me to my best ones. I think ultimately it just comes down to not being afraid to fail. It’s like that classic Michael Jordan quote – “To learn to succeed, you must first learn to fail”. I can’t think of a more applicable place for this quote than Haiti.

There is always something that rises up and stands in the way of your goal down here and it’s really how you deal with that challenge that determines the entire course of success… or failure.

Cheers!