Waves For Water was recently contacted by a group in Brazil that produces a giant music festival each year just outside of Sao Paulo, Brazil, called SWU – The letters stand for Starts With You. It is a festival on par with the ones we are so familiar with in the US such as Coachella & Lallapalooza. Some of this years headliners include – Kanye West, Faith No More, Snoop Dogg, Stone Temple Pilots, Black Eyed Peas, Duran Duran, among others. But the difference in SWU is it has a purpose beyond the  music. The entire thing is a sustainability/awareness campaign, with music as the common thread. The concept is simple – attract an entire demographic with great live music, but while you have them there, TURN THEM ON…! Shift their consciousness and create an army of educated soldiers in the fight for a new, more conscious, reality… It’s all about information – once you are informed, you are responsible… once you are in touch with your responsibilities, you have a better chance of carrying them out and actually helping to change existing paradigms that are either outdated or simply broken.

So, SWU walks their talk… and how they do so is by partnering with organization or groups that they feel are worthy of exposing to the massive audience at their festival. When they partner, it means that they co-create (and sponsor) a community driven action with each partner. In the case of W4W, through our program, they wanted to collaborate on a project for a specific slum on the outskirts of Sao Paulo that, in its first phase, would provide 900 families with clean water. Their concept is brilliant – execute a real action with their partners months before the festival… do a huge media push around each action to get people acquainted, and then physically showcase each project at the festival through a range of mediums – build outs, videos, live demonstrations, etc…

We completed the first phase of the slum project with them recently and it was incredible. It’s all about implementing change on the ground level and turning on the next generation in the process… I even had my girlfriends son, Dylan, come along to help and see first hand the harsh realities that many people face, day in and day out, around the world.

SWU was a flawless partner… and really helped get the message out afterwards on a national level… And along with the unwavering support (since the inception of this project) by the Hurley crew in Brazil, it was by and far one of the smoothest projects we’ve ever done – anywhere! I’ve attached images from the project…

Lastly, they have asked me to speak at their global sustainability symposium during the festival… I said yes, of course… and am completely honored to do so. The other speakers include Neil Young, Bob Geldof, and Donna Karen… to name a few.

Here’s a link to learn about the event – http://swu-admin.swu.com.br/en/

Wish us luck!

We will be mainly focused on providing access to clean drinking water for the villages North of Sendai.

- The main area of their focus will be Ishonomaki. But will work our way down the coast from there to Sendai.

- We are linking up with American Pro surfer (& longtime Japanese resident) Danny Melhado and local Surfer/musician Toruman www.toruman.com

- Together, the four of us – Danny, Toruman, Christian Troy (W4W executive director), and myself will head North in a van loaded with filters and buckets.

Shinetsu where Freeside used to be.

- Our goal is to connect with Shinetsu, the owner of local (Ishonomaki) surf shop called Freeside. Everything was completely wiped out. Devastated . . .

- Just like we do in other parts of the world with the figureheads of churches, schools, hospitals, etc… we will empower Shinetsu with filters so that he can then distribute them throughout his ravaged community…

- Our strategy for this initiative will be heavily rooted in the local surf communities up and down the coast. We will support their networks to distribute filters to the furthest hit corners of this disaster.

- We are an organization founded in the surf/adventure travel community and though our global work transcends that, we are honored to begin our Japan campaign within such a very familiar bloodline.

- We have garnered corporate support for phase 1 of this initiative from Hurley and Skullcandy… as well as many grass roots individual donations from the general public.

This will be a long road to recovery for them and as an organization, we will do our part in aiding them along the way. For phase 1 we do NOT need volunteers at the moment because our mission is very targeted and we have all the local manpower needed to get it done. Ultimately, the main thing we will need moving forward is funds so we can start devising Phases 2&3 based on the intel we acquire from the field in Phase 1.

The best way for people to help is to spread the word and not let this cause die with the short attention span of the mass media. Also people 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 upon checkout) to:

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

Thank you!

Fritz is a legend! I’ve said it many times before, but he really is a remarkable man. I have learned so much from him… We were in Cap Hatien a couple days ago and on our way to our demo and then traffic stopped (a standard occurrence in Haiti). This time it was the driver of a semi-truck and a police officer having a dispute in the middle of the road – both their cars blocking the two lane road. Ok, first off, you know you’re in Haiti when you can scream back at a cop and not get arrested. But the real lesson was the obvious sense of self this truck driver had. I see it everyday with most Haitian’s… they have such a sense of their rights as a human being… not the rights that are imposed by social status, etc… but the ones that we are entitled to just by being born – right and wrong…basic fundamental principles that we all share as human beings. The truck driver was pissed because the cop allegedly cut him off and almost caused him to have an accident. All social status was out the window, it was just two men in the street having an argument about right and wrong…no legal system, no rules. I tried to think about the same scenario happening in the US. Ha!…the truck driver would be arrested in a millisecond and then there’s be some over-sensationalized Ron Burgandy piece about the incident on the local news! The best part was that Fritz “parter of oceans” jumped out, physically put the driver back in his truck, the cop in his car, and settled the whole dispute in under a minute.

The demo was a success and it looked like we were on track to make our flight back to PAP at 3pm. Except… the plane had a mechanical problem. Of course it did!  An hour and a half later another plane showed up from an airline called “Tortug Air” – still trying to understand why an airline named itself after a turtle?…Not the most swift creatures in the animal kingdom…

The next day was more of the same adventure… but this time it was boats and not turtle airlines. We had a big distro/demo on La Gonave Island in the PAP bay.

The trucks broke again, our boat ride was a scene outta a good pirate story, and Fritz once again cleared the way for success… I am absolutely honored to be working with him and my Dad…and actually everyone that makes these efforts possible – the scientists who developed this incredibly significant solution, the manufacturer who supports the development of such technology, the people who packed and shipped it, the donors who contribute to us from all over the world, our major supporter – Hurley…and all the people on the ground here who help us assemble, store, and finally deliver the goods to the end recipient. Without one just one these components the entire end result would fail. WE are all a great team… Thank you!

Anyone who wants to learn true adaptability should spend some time in Haiti. Nothing EVER goes as planned. Like on our Cap Hatien trip, our trucks we’d sent the day before to meet us with all the filters and buckets in time for our demo broke down. But it always ends up working out… we may have to improvise, but in the end, the future is written in ways that we just have to surrender to. As Fritz always says when something goes awry, “Hey, it’s Haiti!” …and it is just that – a place with infinite potential, relentless energy…and a rawness that sometimes lends itself to a change of plans. Bring it on!!
Happy New Year!!

Jon

With such incredibly hard conditions for their under developed immune systems, almost all of them have some sort of parasite using them as a host… and the result of this can often be death. But… THIS IS ALL AVOIDABLE! I’ve said this before but when a child dies from lack of clean water, it is a complete and utter shame. It is something that can be so easily prevented, it makes me sick thinking about it. And another thing! – who knows who these children could become? Who knows the history they could make by receiving this opportunity to survive. In some of the areas that we work it is a 50% infant mortality rate due to water related ailments – that means every other baby dies from this? What?!

Here’s a nugget to chew on – we work in the exact region of Africa that Barack Obama’s Father is from. Imagine if his father was one of those babies that didn’t make it? Well…? No President Obama for starters! So I think about the simple act of giving clean water and all the obvious daily benefits from it… But, like the Obama analogy, giving something as simple as this can also change history forever…

The one thing that has always amazed me about this work is its sheer simplicity and measure-ability. Don’t get me wrong, there are always adversities to negotiate when traveling through a developing country… But I’m more talking about the fact of setting out to do something, and time and time again, being able to get it done… no matter what curve balls get thrown. This is a testament to the filter system we’ve been using down here. If our goal is to get clean water to everyone who needs it, this system actually makes me feel like that is possible. Whether we set out in the morning to distribute 10 filters or 1000, the outcome is always the same – more people have clean water that did not have it the day before. That’s the measure-ability I’m talking about! I like those odds!

So, I sit here and sip my all too familiar glass of whiskey and think about our last two days… we’ve been with the Nepalese and Peruvian military contingents of the UN Minustah distributing filters to selected community leaders in each region they are based. It is part of the same UN project we’ve been working on for the past few months down here.

Much like when we did it with the Uraguayan contingent in the South with or the Chilean’s in the North, it was an incredible snapshot into their cultures… When we stay with these units, we REALLY stay with them… sleeping in their barracks, eating their food, and learning about their country and traditions. For example, the lounge area of the Nepalese base was littered pictures of their homeland… and symbols of their Buddhist beliefs showcased through painted murals on the walls. They also had Gurkha knives (national weapon of Nepal) displayed on an alter just by the entrance. But above all, they are very sweet people that always look you in the eye and seem extremely accommodating by nature.

I’m so grateful to have these opportunities and even more grateful that these unique experiences result in more people having clean water.

Over and out!
– Jon Rose