Social Networking

Helping children impact their present and future...PlayPumps

Thursday, December 11, 2008 by anthony ware

Shortly after I posted the post about our new division, I received an email from Twitter notifying me that "PlayPumps Intl (playpumps)" was now following me. I didn't know what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised. PlayPumps International is combining one of the joy's of being a child with the benefits of physics and good marketing.

According to their website, PlayPumps International’s mission is help improve the lives of children and their families by providing easy access to clean drinking water, enhancing public health, and offering play equipment to millions across Africa.

This organization combines global education and business to solve one of the most serious global issues (not to discount the capital market issue).

If you still don't think that online social networking can benefit your organization (for-profit or NGO), you are missing the proverbial boat.

Did you know about PlayPumps International before today?

Be+Do+Solve(TM)

Comments for Helping children impact their present and future...PlayPumps

Monday, December 15, 2008 by Sarah Egolf:: This is a message from a friend of mine in Zambia, with an analysis of the playpumps. Sorry it's not too favorable, but I thought you would appreciate a thoughtful critique in the hope of making things better, since that is the point: To use a playpump, one still must: 1. have a container, which is expensive, 2. carry the container to the pump, 3. fill the container, and 4 carry the container back to the place of use. There is very little being changed by the pumping method. Consider this: you still have to drill a well, and you still have to get a lot of heavy steel equipment into an area that doesn't have water, aka doesn't have infrastructure. The problem isn't the pumping! The problem is having access to the water, and once the well is there, nobody minds at all doing the regular old hand pumping. And, trust me, the kids have just as much fun playing with the resistance in the handle that goes up and down. I applaud the ingenuity of combining play and needs. But the makers of this focused way too hard on what they saw as the problem -- extra work -- and made a classic mistake of not asking the people affected what they needed. What they need is for all that extra steel to go into more pumps, so people don't have to walk so far for clean water. I think it would be real progress if the playpump was integrated with a piping system that alleviated the walk to the clean water. Or better yet, if the local people would pool some money for a covered well--in most cases these are a better solution than a borehole because they are way less expensive, can be created with local labor and knowledge and without bringing in heavy equipment, and are generally just as safe and reliable a source of drinking quality water as the boreholes. Finally, I was around for a promotion of the playpumps. I am pretty sure it was sponsored by World Vision, one of my least favorite charities. They were going to pay to have one installed--but they insisted that it be in an area accessible by media coverage--coverage of the pump, coverage of the charity...this means that it was along the road, which means it went to a community that already had several wells and, generally, the best access to donated and government resources of anyone in the country. It didn't go to people who need wells, i.e. the people in the remote villages farthest from existing infrastructure.