When I first decided to pursue nonprofit public relations a year or so back, it was mostly because I didn’t want to work in corporate America. The idea of big business meetings filled with people in suits (which is how I stereotypically envisioned the corporate world) just didn’t appeal to me. So when people asked me what I wanted to do when I graduated, I said nonprofit PR. But now, after having a couple of internships in nonprofit communications, I know that that decision I made on a whim was the right one.

Over the past few semesters, I’ve taken some classes that have ignited an interest in human rights, so much so that I bookmarked the website with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Here in the U.S, we take so many of these rights for granted. But there is a plethora of places around the world where people don’t have their fundamental human rights. Obviously, the lack of human rights is a difficult problem with no easy solution. There are political, economic, and social reasons as to why people don’t have all their human rights and nothing is going to fix that overnight. However, there are changes that can be made to aid the process. As I’ve learned during my time at Water to Thrive this summer, water is one of those changes.

Article 25 of the UDHR states, “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.” No access to clean water = No adequate living. It’s as simple as that. Unclean water sources lead to waterborne diseases, such as diarrhea. I’ve gone through a myriad of statistics to support this claim. 50% of rural Africans suffer from waterborne illness. 10% of children die before their 5^th birthday because of diseases such as diarrhea. I’ve seen pictures of women gathering water from the same streams where their livestock are drinking. That’s just not healthy. In the villages where Water to Thrive builds clean water wells, waterborne disease is nearly eradicated.

Article 26 states “Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental states. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.” Education is one of the biggest areas I’ve focused on at Water to Thrive recently. Children spend hours every day walking to retrieve water, causing them to miss school. The diseases they get from these unclean water sources also keep them from attending classes. Just the other day, I was reading through some testimonials from a school in Uganda where W2T is hoping to build a well. These kids talked about how they have to miss school to gather water and often get diseases like cholera and typhoid from it. Although they have the right to education, many cannot get that education because of something as simple as water.

My time at Water to Thrive has taught me a lot, from marketing skills to navigating Austin public transportation, but what has impacted me the most was learning about the African water crisis and reflecting on the effect it has on human rights. Through writing articles and working on an informational packet to send out to schools, I’ve been able to share the importance of clean and accessible wells. Although I’m not out in the field building wells myself, I still feel that I’m making a difference through spreading awareness. St. Francis of Assisi once said, “Don’t change the world, change worlds.” While Water to Thrive isn’t going to single-handedly end the African water crisis, they are changing the lives of individuals every day. And that’s what service is all about.

I’ve been working at Water to Thrive for over a month now, and the time has flown by. My main project is a marketing plan that W2T can use to reach out to their Christian audience. Although W2T is a faith-based organization with roots in a Lutheran church, they don’t currently have any marketing strategies to reach one of their biggest donor bases – churches. That’s where I come in.

Like with any project I’ve done for school, I started with research. This included looking up Christian publications, nearby churches, and best practices for nonprofit marketing. I also needed to know everything I could about Water to Thrive, an organization I had never heard of before I worked here. I also had to go through all their currently marketing, especially social media and print collateral to see how I could tweak it to appeal to a Christian audience. My favorite part has been creating sample social media posts, when I get to channel my creativity and minimal graphic design skills.

Current W2T marketing materials

I’ve learned that creating a marketing plan is a really good way to get to know an organization. I’ve had to include statistics, such as how W2T has funded over 750 wells since 2008, which have affected over 400,000 people. I’ve looked at their recent campaigns, which have come from churches, universities, and weddings. I’ve poured over their annual progress reports and learned about how the organization has touched lives on both sides of the Atlantic.

The motto of W2T is “Build Wells, Change Lives.” As I work, I’m constantly amazed at how deeply lives are actually changed. Clean and accessible water is something that we constantly take for granted. We can have it everywhere – in our houses, in our schools, in our churches, in almost every building in the country. But that’s obviously not the case in rural Africa. Women and children walk for miles to get water, which is often dirty and contaminated. But a single accessible well can flip their lives upside down. The children can go to school because they don’t have to spend hours walking for water. Women have more time to care for their family and cook better meals. There is less disease from waterborne bacteria. The well becomes a place of communal pride for the whole village. While some in developing countries may believe that drinking water is just a “fad”, for many around the world, water is life.

But the lives being changed don’t stop in the African villages. Here in the States, people are continuously being affected by the work of W2T. Wells are funded through campaigns, where a group or individual raises $5,000 to sponsor a well. There have been campaigns by churches, university groups, elementary schools, even couples sponsoring wells in lieu of receiving wedding gifts. In the grand scheme of things, $5,000 isn’t that much to change the lives of hundreds of people. I love that there are people here that are so willing to donate just a few dollars to a campaign in order to change the lives of Ethiopian villagers halfway around the world. They’re willing to host small fundraisers, attend W2T’s annual events, and educate others about the African water crisis. The dedication of W2T supporters around the country is unbelievable and it inspires me to do all I can to spread the message of this organization. Although my work isn’t immediately affecting anyone in Africa, I can do my best to make sure that it does influence churches, who can take the steps to launch their own well-building campaign and change lives.

Three generations of W2T CAPS Fellows: Lars, Louisa (me), and Krista

As someone who was born and raised in the Midwest, life in Texas was certainly an adjustment. I studied abroad in England last semester, yet I experienced more culture shock during my first few days here than months in Europe. The most obvious difference is the heat. The locals laughed when I complained when it was in the mid-90s. They said it would just get hotter. And it sure has, much to my chagrin. There’s prickly pear cacti and aloe plants along the street and in front yards. And people do actually say “y’all” all the time. But besides the heat and birds that occasionally try to attack me (grackles are the worst), Austin is a really fun city. There’s always something to do, whether it’s hiking, live music, free movies, taco festivals, exploring museums, or hanging out with former W2T CAPS Fellows (shout-out to Lars and Krista). And I could write a whole other blog post about how great the food is here. But I’ll save that for another time.