Save the Rain 2022 Year in Review

December 2022

WAT E R A LW A Y S FINDS A WAY.

a note from the executive director

W

hen I look back to when we started in 2005, I am in awe of what has been accomplished.

It’s not just the hundreds of communities in 4 African Countries that now have access to clean water or the thousands of families that no longer have to walk for it.

It goes beyond the bellies that are now full instead of hungry or the landscape that is now reforested instead of barren.

It’s that millions of lives have drastically improved because of your generosity.

With your support, we continue to prove that solutions found through profound, long-standing commitment and deep listening are, by far, the most sustainable ways to grow and serve. Our team continues to shine through its deep care and respect for those we help. That light continues to illuminate because of you.

The highlighted story in this booklet is

one that I turn to when I am struggling. It is a story about three girls whose courage allowed an entire disabled population to come out of the shadows. They exemplify the idea that one person’s courage can indeed change the world. They harness their warriorship in the face of tough times and never let go. I borrow their determination and faith when mine has been diluted by the state of the world.

We’re sharing this so you can do the same during challenging times. We never know when something will come that will help us rise - but it always does.

Our hope is that as you continue to read this annual review, you are transported by the very miracles you helped to create.

With immense gratitude, Kelly Coleman Save the Rain Executive Director

It’s never been more true that

WATER CHANGES EVERYTHING. This year in East Africa, markets thronged back to life, masks gave way to smiles, and people began to feel like things were returning to normal.

Then, a war that appeared to have nothing to do with families in rural Tanzania extended its reach even to those who couldn’t read the news.

A season of rain was skipped.

Compounded with the rising cost of living, it crippled prosperity for so many. And though the rains are just now returning, this years crops didn’t stand a chance. People went hungry.

In response, we’ve upgraded our

residential greenhouse project, tripling the number of people trained to build them. So now, when food is scarce, women can use harvested rain to nourish the crops in their greenhouse to feed their families.

Our teams are still busy building, not only for a rainy day but for the food that can be harvested. Our two hundredplus employees still have jobs and the means to feed their families. A steady salary allows them to help people diversify into other income generation.

This renders them resilient - thanks to you.

Our ability to respond to challenges is where our agency lies. This is why when we learned about schools running out of food, we distributed cornmeal and mung beans to thousands of hungry children.

We are only able to do this because of our generous supporters. You are responsible for hope, transformation, and abundance. Like water, together we always find a way. Here’s a look at what you facilitated...

200 large community rainwater tanks constructed in 4 countries and 80 villages providing 20,000,000 liters of rain each year

2,640 people trained and employed SAVE THE RAIN

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3,955 residential rainwater tanks constructed

510 residential greenhouses constructed

4 million liters of water harvested in one season

4 community greenhouses managed, operated by women’s cooperatives

66,000 pounds of food distributed

7,200 students fed with food distribution program

74 school scholarships funded

Water changes everything.

Life is not possible without it; it lays bare the commonality we share. The cruel irony of a pandemic is having our interconnectedness proven by a virus – and forbidding us to commune ruptures the weave of community.

Her regular work was impacted by the pandemic this year. But wherever Irene and her team went, they spread the message of COVID-19 prevention, bringing health in the form of clean, safe water and leafy greens, plus vital information -- emissaries of new life-changing messages this time.

For those whose ripples of change had reached, she is grateful for the resilience keeping them afloat. But her heart aches for others. The breakdown of community broke down homes, too --unemployment, domestic abuse, children out of school, despair. It’s been a brutally hard year for many.

A CONSTELLATION OF HOPE

From Water to Wheelchairs to Dreams

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n Nkoansiyo, we visited the families of three children living with disabilities. Faraja, Anna and Debora were all born with spina bifida, and the surgery to correct the condition resulted in paralysis from the waist down, accompanied by incontinence.

Each moved by dragging herself along the floor.

There were few places to go. Disabilities are stigmatized in Tanzania. Consequently, these girls have been hidden away. Their existence was denied. Debora’s grandmother covers her eyes in shame as she recalls how she would tell Debora to hide if she heard a knock on the door. They were seven years old.

But it was through Faraja’s father – Goodluck by name and by nature – that we came to know them in 2015. We’d arrived in Nkoansiyo to build rainwater harvesting systems, but Goodluck bravely chose to bring Faraja into the light. Anna and Debora and 750 others followed. And we found ourselves following water with wheelchairs.

As the girls received the gift of mobility, their world expanded. Lifted from a life on the floor, they began to venture outside and meet neighbors. The sun began to shine upon them.

Though they’d never been near a classroom, all three knew they wanted to study. The head teacher of Nkoansiyo Primary saw it as a wonderful opportunity. However, the school was not designed for wheelchairs. So we built ramps at the school, and the girls took their place among their peers. They had never learned how to read or write, but their hunger for knowledge was insatiable. They soared not only to the top of their class but to the top ten best students out of 7000 in the ward.

Cleo visits the girls regulary. She’s a nurse and our new Health and Evaluation Manager. You might ask why a clean water charity would need someone like Cleo. But if you know us, you know that water is merely the medium through which we manifest our deep commitment to the people whose lives it changes. And water changes everything.

Measuring change and learning how to bring it about more meaningfully is one of the roots of who we are. Conducting extensive monitoring and evaluations has always been part of what we do. That data guides the creation of efforts and solutions. But it’s also true that we’re an organic, emergent organization. Through constant communication with communities, we understand where best we can be of service. Like water, we always find a way.

Working with Faraja, Debora and Anna is one of Cleo’s favorite roles. She is preparing them for independent life and adulthood. Cleo is teaching them how to manage their catheters, personal hygiene, and what to expect with puberty. She wants the girls to overcome the obstacles society

has placed in the path to their dreams.

It’s been seven years since the girls’ first day of school, and this year, they graduated from Nkoansiyo Primary School. At the graduation ceremony, spirits were high, and the music was loud. The girls were the epicenter of a swirling cacophony of exuberance. The friendships they’ve built spiraled out in laughter, affection and shared stories. There were speeches, garlands, cakes, and photographs. Students sang and danced. Pride swelled in their parents’ chests, and tears streamed down their cheeks.

This rite of passage represents the culmination of so many victories. Seven years ago, no one even imagined this day.

No one could imagine what would come next...

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750 disabled children received wheelchairs

We’ve learned that when you set goodness in motion, it exerts its gravitational pull. This is how Secondary Education for Girls’ Advancement (SEGA) secured sponsorship for Debora, Faraja and Anna to attend their prestigious boarding school. The girls will be trailblazing again as the school’s first students living with disabilities.

We will take the girls and their parents to visit the school and ensure they have everything they need for this next step. Classes begin in January 2023.

There’s a parallel reality in which Debora, Faraja and Anna would never have left the confines of their homes, let alone travel to their country’s capital city – or attend

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boarding school 480 miles from home. Faraja smiles at the realization that she will see the ocean on this trip. As we prepare to leave, Goodluck is effusive with gratitude. We were praying for a solution, his wife says.

How were we to provide a life for this child? She didn’t even know what to ask God for –the problem seemed so intractable. But she kept sending up her prayers for help and the rain brought down the answer.

From a life of hiding in the dark to a place in the world, it’s already been quite a journey to get here. It feels like stars are being put back in the sky. Faraja, Anna and Debora have taken their place in a constellation of hope. And it was your support that helped them get there.

Thanks to our corporate sponsors

100% of public donations directly fund our projects.

IMPACT A CHILD

IMPACT HUNGER

IMPACT A FAMILY

$15 provides a child with access to clean drinking water for the rest of their life and the life of their future offspring.

$150 provides a family with a residential greenhouse that is filled with organic crops that harvest multiple times per year.

$500 provides a residential rainwater collection system and frees a family from searching for water.

With your help, we can end the Global Water Crisis. Donate Today.

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