Water for Fiji - Wananavu Kadavu

Our project manager, Ben Sorensen uploaded some photos of the Navuatu water project we are doing in Fiji. Please forgive me for making this personal, but Wananavu Kadavu is very personal to me and my family.

Ben Sorensen is my oldest son and I just want you to know how proud I am of him and the work he is doing in Fiji. Little did I know a trip to Fiji would change our lives forever.

Ok, so I'm his mom but that doesn't stop it from being something great. He has invested in Wananavu Kadavu and the people of Fiji. The crew of our 2 projects to date have become family, he lives with them and works with them. So Ben, kudos to you. From now on when I hear "pay it forward" I'll think of Ben, the people who work shoulder to shoulder with you and all those who have believed in us. How easy it would have been to return home to Utah never to look back... the journey we would have missed.

As I've been looking at his photos of our Navuatu crew, I cried. I'm so proud of Ben, so proud of the work he is doing. He didn't do it alone, our family didn't do it alone, there is no "I" in doing something like this it's "WE". People from all around the world are making it happen, a stranger on a plane, old friends, new friends this wouldn't be happening without "YOU", so vinaka vakalevu, danke schon, merci beaucoup, arigato gozaimasu, obrigada, muchas gracias and thank you thank you thank you!!

Ben and Scott made the decision to stay in Fiji to do this work, we said we'd do our best to make it happen and in the end "YOU" made it happen, together we can make big changes to make our world a better place for all to live.

Every person who has helped make this happen is "Wananavu Kadavu", wananavu means everything is set, that being said we can continue working...

One village at a time, together we can...

Nancy Thompson Mahler |

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Navuatu Project ~ Kadavu Island Fiji

Thursday

Jun242010

Why Water?

Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 12:50PM

Health and sanitation.

Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of diseases and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Children are especially vulnerable, as their bodies aren't strong enough to fight diarrhea, dysentery and other illnesses.

90% of the 42,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and unhygienic living conditions are to children under five years old. Many of these diseases are preventable. The UN predicts that one tenth of the global disease burden can be prevented simply by improving water supply and sanitation.