Help SUM1 close the WASH GAP in India
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My name is Christopher and I work for SUM1.org. We bring health education and sanitation to the parts of the world they're needed most. Our focus right now is on India because that's where problems from bad or completely absent sanitation are worst.
This campaign is to raise money and awareness of how bad sanitation issues are in India, and specifically how it affects school-aged girls there trying to get an education to improve their lives and those of their families. We're working with an NGO there on the ground in Northern India, and we're hoping to fund their entire program in five Indian states for 2013 with your help.
WASH of course stands for "Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene" while the GAP is for "Girl Awareness Project" but also for the divide that exists in this problem between girls and boys.
I'm a numbers guy and I won't mince words: with 1.21 billion people, the population of India is the 2nd largest in the world between China and the United States"”but in a country only a third the size of the US:
Almost 4 times the US population in 1/3 of the space.
China has only about 140 million more people throughout, while the US in 3rd place has almost a billion people less, clocking in at a mere 315.8 million. And we have most of the money.
Source is indexmundi.com (their numbers are from Jan 2012 but the imagery is still very telling)
More than half of India's population are "open defecators""”638 million people without toilets that instead go outdoors in fields, rivers, on the railways, and in the streets. Often they have just never known any other way. The majority of Indian children are not properly taught about healthy sanitation and personal hygiene habits like washing hands with soap after the toilet and washing again before and after eating or handling food.
Of all children under age 5 dying around the world every year, about one quarter of them die in India"”more than the next 6 countries combined. Diarrhoeal disease and respiratory infections are the number one cause for child deaths in India, illnesses directly linked to the lack of access to clean water, toilets and sewage systems that we take for granted every day.
School-age girls in India often have zero access to toilets while they're attending school. Their school might have only one or two unisex toilets that are so filthy they're practically unusable. I'm a boy and I'm willing to say it: we boys are pigs. Just think about how dirty men's rooms can get in this country! Now imagine living where there are more cell phones than toilets, with human waste filling streets and fields.
Yes, they're pooping on the beach.
All these factors combine into a massive social rift that ultimately keeps many girls from getting any kind of education. Children will get ill from foecal exposure and then miss days or weeks of class. Girls often have little or no access to menstrual education or sanitary supplies, and for up to a week each month will often stay home instead of going to class. They get behind in their lessons, and when it gets bad enough they just give up and drop out. Often their only prospect at that point is to marry and stay home to raise children. And then this cycle repeats, generation after generation.
We know without a doubt that massive social change can be effected for what we in the West consider not a lot of money. We've seen it happen. The cost of a cup of coffee or running for a burger on your lunch hour adds up quickly. If we could convince just 1% of the US work force to donate the few dollars they spend on fast food one day out of their work week, we could raise enough to fund this educational program and create sweeping reform for years. Think about how much you spend every morning for coffee on your way to work: the average white and blue collar worker in the US spends in excess of $25 every week on a morning venti from their favorite coffee chain. We're only asking you to skip one day and use that to help fix the world.
Folks these days are crowdfunding $2mil in a weekend to fund fan-fic movie projects. If we can raise less than 5% of that amount, we can actually help these girls stay in school until they graduate, to go on to good jobs and real prospects for their future. We can help these schools build vitally necessary toilets for girls to use and stay in school.
SUM1 has always been a 100% charity: everything we raise here (minus what Indiegogo takes, of course) will go to helping those in India suffering from the sanitation crisis. We don't take any of that money for our "administrative costs" like most others, and in fact we'll spend our own money to offset the processing costs of this host. We're that passionate about our work. Even if we don't meet our goal, everything you donate will still go to India to address this problem.
This has an impact on us all, even here in the cozy United States. We live in a global community now. Cheap air travel puts us within a few hours of any spot on the planet. Disease vectors can't be contained like they were even 100 years ago, so reducing epidemics is a positive sum for us all.
If we can raise the money they need, the NGO we're working with will go to the 5 states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Leh, and Himachal Pradesh. They'll visit 45 villages, 90 schools, and 17 village councils in those areas over the summer. They will create awareness among those communities about sanitation, the need for toilets, menstrual hygiene, and safe drinking water. Educate about the ill effects of open defecation through banners, paintings, posters in high traffic areas like schools and railway stations. They'll also use new media like SMS, audio clips and radio spots, and games for phones to get the message home. Then they'll hold events where children can come play games that encourage them to adopt safe hygiene changes to their lives. This has the potential to reach millions through the ripples it will create.
If you can't give much (and we're not asking for much) please at least spread the word about our mission! Post about us to your wall, tweet your friends about this campaign, show your family and friends how they can help make a difference to the whole world with a few bucks. Remember: if we can just get 1% to donate 1%, we can tackle this issue and put open defecation in the margins of the history books.
This campaign is to raise money and awareness of how bad sanitation issues are in India, and specifically how it affects school-aged girls there trying to get an education to improve their lives and those of their families. We're working with an NGO there on the ground in Northern India, and we're hoping to fund their entire program in five Indian states for 2013 with your help.
WASH of course stands for "Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene" while the GAP is for "Girl Awareness Project" but also for the divide that exists in this problem between girls and boys.
I'm a numbers guy and I won't mince words: with 1.21 billion people, the population of India is the 2nd largest in the world between China and the United States"”but in a country only a third the size of the US:
Almost 4 times the US population in 1/3 of the space.
China has only about 140 million more people throughout, while the US in 3rd place has almost a billion people less, clocking in at a mere 315.8 million. And we have most of the money.
Source is indexmundi.com (their numbers are from Jan 2012 but the imagery is still very telling)
More than half of India's population are "open defecators""”638 million people without toilets that instead go outdoors in fields, rivers, on the railways, and in the streets. Often they have just never known any other way. The majority of Indian children are not properly taught about healthy sanitation and personal hygiene habits like washing hands with soap after the toilet and washing again before and after eating or handling food.
Of all children under age 5 dying around the world every year, about one quarter of them die in India"”more than the next 6 countries combined. Diarrhoeal disease and respiratory infections are the number one cause for child deaths in India, illnesses directly linked to the lack of access to clean water, toilets and sewage systems that we take for granted every day.
School-age girls in India often have zero access to toilets while they're attending school. Their school might have only one or two unisex toilets that are so filthy they're practically unusable. I'm a boy and I'm willing to say it: we boys are pigs. Just think about how dirty men's rooms can get in this country! Now imagine living where there are more cell phones than toilets, with human waste filling streets and fields.
Yes, they're pooping on the beach.
All these factors combine into a massive social rift that ultimately keeps many girls from getting any kind of education. Children will get ill from foecal exposure and then miss days or weeks of class. Girls often have little or no access to menstrual education or sanitary supplies, and for up to a week each month will often stay home instead of going to class. They get behind in their lessons, and when it gets bad enough they just give up and drop out. Often their only prospect at that point is to marry and stay home to raise children. And then this cycle repeats, generation after generation.
We know without a doubt that massive social change can be effected for what we in the West consider not a lot of money. We've seen it happen. The cost of a cup of coffee or running for a burger on your lunch hour adds up quickly. If we could convince just 1% of the US work force to donate the few dollars they spend on fast food one day out of their work week, we could raise enough to fund this educational program and create sweeping reform for years. Think about how much you spend every morning for coffee on your way to work: the average white and blue collar worker in the US spends in excess of $25 every week on a morning venti from their favorite coffee chain. We're only asking you to skip one day and use that to help fix the world.
Folks these days are crowdfunding $2mil in a weekend to fund fan-fic movie projects. If we can raise less than 5% of that amount, we can actually help these girls stay in school until they graduate, to go on to good jobs and real prospects for their future. We can help these schools build vitally necessary toilets for girls to use and stay in school.
SUM1 has always been a 100% charity: everything we raise here (minus what Indiegogo takes, of course) will go to helping those in India suffering from the sanitation crisis. We don't take any of that money for our "administrative costs" like most others, and in fact we'll spend our own money to offset the processing costs of this host. We're that passionate about our work. Even if we don't meet our goal, everything you donate will still go to India to address this problem.
This has an impact on us all, even here in the cozy United States. We live in a global community now. Cheap air travel puts us within a few hours of any spot on the planet. Disease vectors can't be contained like they were even 100 years ago, so reducing epidemics is a positive sum for us all.
If we can raise the money they need, the NGO we're working with will go to the 5 states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Leh, and Himachal Pradesh. They'll visit 45 villages, 90 schools, and 17 village councils in those areas over the summer. They will create awareness among those communities about sanitation, the need for toilets, menstrual hygiene, and safe drinking water. Educate about the ill effects of open defecation through banners, paintings, posters in high traffic areas like schools and railway stations. They'll also use new media like SMS, audio clips and radio spots, and games for phones to get the message home. Then they'll hold events where children can come play games that encourage them to adopt safe hygiene changes to their lives. This has the potential to reach millions through the ripples it will create.
If you can't give much (and we're not asking for much) please at least spread the word about our mission! Post about us to your wall, tweet your friends about this campaign, show your family and friends how they can help make a difference to the whole world with a few bucks. Remember: if we can just get 1% to donate 1%, we can tackle this issue and put open defecation in the margins of the history books.
Organizer
Christopher Sumone
Organizer
