Water: our common wealth

World Water Day, held on 22 March every year since 1993, focuses on the importance of freshwater. World Water Day celebrates water and raises awareness of the 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water. It is about taking action to tackle the global water crisis. 

How is the water in your country? For example, according to the SDG indicator,  50% of the population in Peru uses a safely managed drinking water service. What happened with the other 50% of the population? Here more information: https://www.sdg6data.org/country-or-area/Peru#anchor_6.2.1b

Discover the percentage of drinking water, water quality, population with access to sanitation services, or the proportion of wastewater that is treated safely.
https://www.sdg6data.org/#Search_country

Here resources to learn the relationship between water and climate change: https://www.worldwaterday.org/2020-home/learn/

This #WorldWaterDay, let’s show our best hand hygiene moments to fight #COVID19.
#SafeHands on #WorldWaterDay (but please don’t forget to turn off the tap!)

Global Water Dance 2019 - San Antonio

Dancing for Safe Water Everywhere 

June 15, 7:30 pm 

San Pedro Creek, 

Culture Park 

For the third year URBAN-15 Dance Company and Sister Martha Ann Kirk of the UIW Ettling Center for Civic Leadership and Sustainability and the Incarnate Word Sisters Justice, Peace, and Creation Committee, invite all to participate in this ecological and artistic movement! Recently ECCLS worked with Women's Global Connection in Peru in light of critical water challenges.  WGC both taught about clean water and provided water filters for families.  

Global Water Dances uses the international languages of dance and film to promote awareness and a behavioral shift toward solutions for water preservation and conservation through community engagement. Our dance which will be live-streamed  at San Pedro Creek Culture Park is one of over 170 throughout the world.  San Antonio River Authority co-hosts GWD this year.

Read of the Global Water Dance at the Headwaters of the San Antonio River last year and the on-going partnership with Women’s Global Connection to promote safe water HERE.  

For more information contact: 

(210)736-1500
urban15@dcci.com
www.urban15.org

Pope Francis Message for World Day of Prayer for Creation

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS
POPE FRANCISFOR THE 
WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE CARE OF CREATION

1 SEPTEMBER 2018

Dear brothers and sisters,

On this Day of Prayer, I wish first to thank the Lord for the gift of our common home and for all those men and women of good will committed to protecting it. I am likewise grateful for the many projects aimed at promoting the study and the safeguarding of ecosystems, for the efforts being made to develop more sustainable agriculture and more responsible nutrition, and for the various educational, spiritual and liturgical initiatives that involve Christians throughout the world in the care of creation.

It must be acknowledged that we have not succeeded in responsibly protecting creation. The environmental situation, both on the global level and in many specific places, cannot be considered satisfactory. Rightly, there is a growing sense of the need for a renewed and sound relationship between humanity and creation, and the conviction that only an authentic and integral vision of humanity will permit us to take better care of our planet for the benefit of present and future generations. For “there is no ecology without an adequate anthropology” (Laudato Si’, 118).

On this World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, which the Catholic Church for several years now has celebrated in union with our Orthodox brothers and sisters and with participation of other Churches and Christian communities, I would like to draw attention to the question of water. It is a very simple and precious element, yet access to it is, sadly, for many people difficult if not impossible. Nonetheless, “access to safe drinkable water is a basic and universal human right, since it is essential to human survival and, as such, is a condition for the exercise of other human rights. Our world owes a great social debt towards the poor who lack access to drinking water, because they are denied the right to a life consistent with their inalienable dignity” (ibid., 30).

Water invites us to reflect on our origins. The human body is mostly composed of water, and many civilizations throughout history arose near great rivers that marked their identity. In an evocative image, the beginning of the book of Genesis states that, in the beginning, the spirit of the Creator “swept over the face of the waters (1:2)”.

In considering the fundamental role of water in creation and in human development, I feel the need to give thanks to God for “Sister Water”, simple and useful for life like nothing else on our planet. Precisely for this reason, care for water sources and water basins is an urgent imperative. Today, more than ever, we need to look beyond immediate concerns (cf. Laudato Si’, 36) and beyond a purely utilitarian view of reality, “in which efficiency and productivity are entirely geared to our individual benefit” (ibid., 159). We urgently need shared projects and concrete gestures that recognize that every privatization of the natural good of water, at the expense of the human right to have access to this good, is unacceptable.

Continue reading the full article HERE

St. Anthony's Students Raise Money for Rain Harvester

They’ve done it again!

St. Anthony Catholic High School sophomores have raised enough money for the women WGC partners with in Tanzania to build yet another rainwater harvester!

This is the third clean water tank that this amazing local high school has funded under the tutelage of faculty member Dr. Christopher Samuel (pictured here with some of the sophomore leaders).

This recent class raised the money faster than any previous class - a testament to the fact that St. Anthony is a place where justice is an action, not just a theoretical concept. Thank you!

For more information on how you or your organization can partner with WGC on our women's empowerment projects, please check out our website here or email us at wgcinsa@gmail.com.

Baptism is Our Call to Care for Water

This article by Sr. Martha Ann Kirk CCVI was originally published by Global Sisters Report on April 9, 2018. You can access the original article here.

In this Easter season, when we were blessed again with the waters of baptism, do we have eyes to see the sacredness of water? May we who have passed through the waters of baptism recognize that as our call to speak and work passionately so all in our global family may have clean water.

What if I had a day without water? No coffee, no toilet, no water to brush my teeth, no refreshing drink at the water fountain in the hall between classes, nothing to wash the dishes and the clothes — not to mention the dirt on my windshield — no water along the way as I bike a few miles, no water to make the soup for supper, no hot shower (not even a cold one).

I could endure a day, but what if I were a mother with small children in sub-Saharan Africa, where the deserts are increasing in size? Or what if I was one of the children I saw last summer in Chimbote, Peru, in a neighborhood without a clean water supply?

My heart was cracking open, and when I came home, I invited people in our city of San Antonio to be a part of the Global Water Dances movement, and join groups on six continents who are focusing on water issues.  We danced at the dry "Blue Hole."

Though my community, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, did not have enough money in the late 1890s to purchase the land around the headwaters of the San Antonio River from Col. George Washington Brackenridge, they worked hard to raise money over a period of years. They believed that being close to nature is educationally beneficial and spiritually renewing. People need to learn of nature and learn to care for nature.

Abundant springs once bubbled up from the Edwards Aquifer, providing for the growing population and delighting sisters and students. The aquifer has been depleted and now the "Blue Hole," the largest of the springs considered sacred by the native peoples, is almost always dry.

Nothing but a dry hole is now at this place, the Headwaters of the San Antonio River,
where students and sisters once enjoyed abundant springs and boating, circa 1907.

This was the beginning of the San Antonio River and it has drawn people for over 11,000 years. When there are very heavy rains, some water may come up for a while, but then the hole is dry again.

World Water Day, observed annually on March 22, reminds us that 2.1 billion people live without safe drinking water at home, which affects their health, education and livelihoods.

Wars have been fought over power, land and oil. Now, life's most basic need — water — is causing escalating violence.

If we want a safe world, if we want a healthy world, now is the time to rally about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6, and work together to ensure that everyone has access to safe water by 2030. Budgets for water have more potential to contribute to global security than budgets for weapons.

Because water easily comes out of your faucet now, don't forget that the city of Cape Town, South Africa, is due to run out of water this year. Its reservoirs are nearly dry.

Let us consider that we may be called to the spiritual discipline of learning where local water supplies come from, or following state and national legislation relating to water issues — and using our individual and corporate influence to advocate for the wise use of it.

The theme of World Water Day 2018 was "Nature for Water." Many problems like damaged ecosystems can be helped by nature-based solutions.

A sister and students enjoy the San Antonio River about a hundred
years ago. (Archives of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word)

And working for water may call us to global solidarity.

Last year at the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, we attended a session given by Lisa Uribe, director of Women's Global Connection — one of our sister's ministries. Lisa told a story about a girl in Tanzania who was often punished for being late to school, but she couldn't get there sooner because she had to carry water for her family.

Women's Global Connection started a rainwater-harvesting project to assist and encourage local women; now, there are 700 women in 60 villages harvesting rainwater. The little girl was profoundly grateful and could get to school more easily.

The women of Buwea, Tanzania, built this rainwater
harvester assisted by Women’s Global Connection.
(Women’s Global Connection)

In the midst of the San Antonio metropolitan area of almost 2.5 million, our sisters are the guardians of a 53-acre nature sanctuary, the Headwaters at Incarnate Word. This nonprofit Earth care ministry seeks to increase biodiversity and benefit local wildlife, offers educational programs for adults and children, and provides a sanctuary where people are encouraged to reflect and reconnect with the Earth.

As we let the Earth restore us, we can be better at restoring the Earth.

As we renew our baptismal promises and reflect on the waters of our baptism, may we deepen in our commitment to ensure life-giving water for all.

The Big March

On Friday the 22nd of September, Chimbotanos could hear the sound of trumpets and drums being played along with people chanting: la bahia es un tesoro, que vale mas que el oro (the bay is a treasure, worth more than gold) among other chants. The march was organized by a collective citizen group known as Chimbote de Pie. Over the years Chimbote has seen a decline in ecological biodiversity in the bay and a rise in pollution: specifically trash, sewage, and chemical waste. Not only does the waste dumping have an immediate effect on the lives of Chimote citizens but contributes to larger environmental issues of ocean pollution and decline in biodiversity. This march advertised as the “Gran Marcha Civica” was orchestrated to combat this issue. 

Besides tackling the cultural issue of throwing trash on the street, there is a lack of governmental support to create a cleaner and more sustainable environment in regards to waste. The steel, fish, and even citizen waste does not go through a processing and treatment plant which would allow the water to be re-used. Although this newly treated water may not be safe enough to drink, it could be used for watering gardens, farmland, and even the water within the toilet bowls. But because this process does not occur, tons of highly toxic and polluted water are pumped directly into the ocean every day, creating a dead zone otherwise known as Chimbote’s bay. However the pollution does not just stay in the bay. The tainted water affects the nearby beaches and marine life in the open sea. Just thinking that perhaps the fish we eat has been swimming in our own waste is an off putting concept. And for these reasons, Chimbote de Pie marched.

One of the efforts of the march was to spread awareness to the citizens that the Municipality and other agencies such as SedaChimbote need to take greater responsibility in correcting this problem. Additionally, the march’s intent was to unite those in agreement, because a roar of voices makes a louder statement than the voice of one. So as the march made its way from Plaza Miguel Grau (Plaza 28 de Julio), past the Municipality in Plaza de Armas, and all the way to SedaChimbote, their chants could be heard. A number of schools, volunteer organizations, and environmental groups, equating to about 500 people, came out to support the cause: “No mas desauge a la bahia” “No more sewage in the bay.” Undoubtedly the event was a success. Cultural and governmental changes do no happen overnight, yet with persistence and perseverance, Chimbote de Pie hopes that one day the bay will no longer be used as a dumping ground. So the next time you throw your trash on the ground, think about Chimbote de Pie and the fight to live in a cleaner environment.

The Waters of Baptism and Water for All God's People

An article from the San Antonio Archdiocesan Task Force on the implementation of Pope Francis’ message on climate change and caring for our common home by Sister Martha Ann Kirk, CCVI

(Photo by Maricela Caballero)
Deacon Ray Jimenez baptizes Jace Jericho Amaro,
son of  Crystal and JJ Amaro Jr. at Mission Concepción

Pope Francis in his message to the world, Laudato Si emphasizes the importance of water.  Those of us who have passed through the waters of baptism are called to care passionately about all water. The Pope has spoken of the danger of climate change that has brought heat that is melting the glaciers, heat that is evaporating the water that people so need.  “The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor;   she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.” (1-2)

Everyday as we wake up and turn on the faucet to drink and to wash, we should live in profound gratitude and deep commitment to care for water and to share water. Two-thirds of our planet is water and two-thirds of our bodies are water. Water connects us. The United States has developed the capability to get bombs anyplace in the world very quickly to destroy things. Yet ways to get safe water to all people of the world have not been developed.  People who have passed through the waters of baptism ask how we can bring water to all God’s people. 

Photo from Women’s Global Connection, a ministry
of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word,
has helped people in Tanzania, who had to walk
many miles to get water, learn how to build
and use rainwater harvesters. 

One in ten people in the world lack access to safe water. That would be about twice the population of the United States. The World Economic Forum considers the water crisis the greatest global risk.      Pope Francis wrote, “One particularly serious problem is the quality of water available to the poor. […] Even as the quality of available water is constantly diminishing, in some places there is a growing tendency, despite its scarcity, to privatize this resource, turning it into a commodity subject to the laws of the market. Yet access to safe drinkable water is a basic and universal human right, since it is essential to human survival and, as such, is a condition for the exercise of other human rights. Our world has a grave social debt towards the poor who lack access to drinking water, because they are denied the right to a life consistent with their inalienable dignity. (29-30)

I pray at Mission Concepción where people have passed through the waters of baptism since 1755.  As we approach the 300th anniversary of our city let us remember that Spaniards settled here because of the beauty and the importance of the water of the river. As Franciscans shared the waters of baptism, they also taught the people to build acequias to bring water from the San Antonio River to irrigate their crops.  The Franciscan missionaries gathered native peoples who were hunters and gatherers. Concepción was both a mission and an agricultural center. At times the native peoples would be hungry because they couldn't find enough food. While sharing the bread of the Eucharist the Franciscans knew they must not close their eyes to people needing food. From the founding of the Mission until about 1800 the Franciscans at Mission Concepción taught the native peoples how to plant corn, squash, beans, melons, and cotton. The Franciscans taught the people to plant orchards that they might have fruit.

A family enjoys the San Antonio River at Concepción Park.
photo by Sr. Martha Ann Kirk CCVI

Pope Francis notes, “Our insistence that each human being is an image of God should not make us overlook the fact that each creature has its own purpose. None is superfluous. The entire material universe speaks of God’s love, his boundless affection for us. Soil, water, mountains: everything is, as it were, a caress of God.” (84)   As we feel God’s caress in the water that touches our skin, let us speak and work more than ever to save, protect, and share water.  

Those of us who have the joy of living in San Antonio, a city by the river, can take our families to enjoy the beauty of walking, biking, and picnicking along the river, many miles of opportunity to learn about nature and thank God for creation.    

Reprinted with permission: “Living Laudato Si---‘The waters of baptism and water for all God’s people’,”  Today’s Catholic, July 72017, 36.

  

Dance at Blue Hole Focuses on Conservation and Climate Change

Sister Martha Ann Kirk reads a statement of concern over
the president’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the climate pact.
Photo: Billy Calzada /San Antonio Express-News.

Dance at San Antonio Spring focuses on conservation, climate change

By Jesse Pound, Staff Writer  Updated 9:41 pm, Saturday, June 24, 2017

Several dozen San Antonians gathered at the dry source of the city’s eponymous river Saturday evening, using a delicate dance and soft music to draw attention to water issues while also criticizing President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Accords.

The event, held at the Blue Hole on the campus of the University of the Incarnate Word, was part of Global Water Dances, in which people on six continents sought to draw attention to water issues. The dance and percussion accompaniment were provided by URBAN-15.

Giselle Luevano of the group Urban 15
performs a dance.  Photo: Billy Calzada /
San Antonio Express-News.

Deirdre Lacour of the Urban 15 dance group
performs.  Photo: Billy Calzada /San Antonio
Express-News

Two URBAN-15 members stood in the dry riverbed and waved a white and blue banner where the water would be running while others, dressed to match the banner, danced slowly on the riverbank.

The event comes two days after the San Antonio City Council voted 9-1 to adopt and support the Paris Climate Accord. Trump pulled the United States out of the agreement earlier this month.

Sister Martha Ann Kirk performs a water dance by the Blue Hole
headwater of the San Antonio River. 
Photo: Billy Calzada /San Antonio Express-News.

After opening remarks by Sister Martha Ann Kirk, chair of the Incarnate Word Sisters’ Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation committee, and Alyssa Cook, an education intern for Headwaters at Incarnate Word, the attendees gathered around the spring.

“With the global community, we join in the movement for water — clean water for all,” Kirk said at the beginning of the ceremony.

After the dance was over, attendees recited in unison a statement from the nuns, criticizing Trump’s action.

“This decision will only increase the negative impacts of climate change already affecting vulnerable populations around the world,” the statement reads in part. “As one of the industrialized nations most responsible for climate change, the United States has a moral responsibility to continue working with the global community to reduce our impact and support those already affected.”

People sign a statement from  the Sisters of Charity of the
Incarnate Word expressing concern with President Trump’s
decision to remove the United States from the climate deal. 
Photo: Billy Calzada /San Antonio Express-News.

After the recitation, the attendees were invited to take a colorful marker and sign a large version of the statement, the top of which was pinned to a table by a large candle holder that read “compassion.”

Cook, who educates people about water conservation issues, said it is not abnormal for the Blue Hole to be dry. The reading at the J-17 well that monitors the Edwards Aquifer stood at 663 feet above mean sea level Saturday, down from 685.9 just six months ago. It was at 676.7 at this time last year.

“I’d really like people to know that the San Antonio River was crucial to the beginning of our city,” Cook said. “And it’s still crucial today. With tourism, a lot of people’s jobs rely on the San Antonio River, and a lot of people’s drinking water and jobs rely on the Edwards Aquifer.”

The Blue Hole headwaters is currently dry.
Photo: Billy Calzada /San Antonio Express-News

One of the performers from URBAN-15 was Gloria Barba, 67, who said her family is from Aguascalientes, meaning “hot water,” in Mexico and that concern for water and the environment has been passed down for generations.

“Environment has no fences,” Barba said. “I think everybody in the whole wide world should get involved.”

A statement from the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word expressing concern with President Trump’s decision to remove the United States from the climate deal and expressing solidarity with pro-climate stances of Pope Francis was read.  

The article appears in print: San Antonio Express-News, June 25, 2017, A-3

Standing with the Paris Climate Agreement

Standing with the Paris Climate Agreement: 

Celebrating and Dancing with Creation 

June 24, 2017, 7:00 pm
  

The Blue Hole at Headwaters Sanctuary 
by the George Brackenridge Villa, 

Incarnate Word Campus 
4301 Broadway, San Antonio, TX 78209

The University of the Incarnate Word Office of Sustainability and the Headwaters at Incarnate Word join with the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word who have issued a statement in support of the Paris Climate Agreement and invite all to a gathering to affirm our united efforts for environmental justice though words, music, and dance.  

The Urban-15 Group, famous for their dance contributions to Fiesta, under the artistic direction of Catherine Cisneros with the assistance of her musician husband George Cisneros, is joining the movement called Global Water Dances  in which people on six continents will dance on June 24 to raise awareness of global water issues.  Creativity is urgently needed, locally and globally, in the face of environmental destruction.

The gathering is by the Blue Hole, source of the San Antonio River, the heart of the Headwaters Sanctuary preserved by the Incarnate Word Sisters.  Headwaters at Incarnate Word promotes science, sustainability, and sanctuary for all.  This 53 acre sanctuary offers a space for reflection and environmental education for people of all ages and may be explored at any time.

Bring a picnic to enjoy on the hill below the Brackenridge Villa.  

For more information, contact Sister Martha Ann Kirk, Chair of the Incarnate Word Sisters International Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation Committee.  Kirk@uiwtx.edu   210-883-5934

Living Laudato Si - Incarnate Word Academy

Part of the mission of Incarnate Word Academy is to “make a positive impact on the world,” which includes all of creation, not just human beings.  Bringing in the whole of creation to their mission, it is no surprise to learn about the many ways they actively engage students, staff, and families in making a positive impact on the world by caring for our common home.

One piece of creation which is vital for life is water, and this is an area that IWA has actively been involved in protecting and making accessible for at risk communities around the world.  A couple years ago students and staff listened to a presentation about the organization Water With Blessings, and were inspired to get involved to support clean water for communities in countries throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America who don’t easily have access.  Through various class fundraisers students raised money for many water filters as part of this program. 

At the local level IWA also installed a water fountain in each building where you can easily fill up your reusable water bottles and students, faculty, and staff are all encouraged to use reusable bottles or cups rather than plastic water bottles. 

In line with eliminating waste, recycling is very present throughout IWA.  There are single stream recycling bins in every classroom, and even when students or faculty leave the classroom they promote recycling wherever they go, making sure to always bring an extra bag for recyclable products in case there isn’t one available. 

Energy is another way that IWA collaborates with the surrounding community.  Sr. Pat Kelly CCVI started the energy care program through Ameren, providing reduced energy costs and winterization for poor and vulnerable families.  IWA continue the legacy of Sr. Pat Kelly by hosting an annual blanket drive where 200-300 blankets are collected and distributed to those in need, as well as sending groups of students and faculty/staff out into the community to winterize the homes of those in need.  IWA also hosts the annual Trivia Night fundraiser for Energy Care and students, staff, and faculty all volunteer to make that possible. 

Incarnate Word Academy has dreams for the future about continuing to beautify the areas around campus and even looking into the possibilities of starting their own community garden.  Through the many programs and initiatives they currently have and will develop in the future, we lift up and thank IWA for incorporating into their mission a concern for making a positive impact on our mother earth, our common home. 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Halts Dakota Access Pipeline

Cannon Ball, N.D.— The department of the Army will not approve an easement that will allow the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under Lake Oahe. The following statement was released by Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II.

“Today, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will not be granting the easement to cross Lake Oahe for the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline. Instead, the Corps will be undertaking an environmental impact statement to look at possible alternative routes. We wholeheartedly support the decision of the administration and commend with the utmost gratitude the courage it took on the part of President Obama, the Army Corps, the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior to take steps to correct the course of history and to do the right thing.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and all of Indian Country will be forever grateful to the Obama Administration for this historic decision.

We want to thank everyone who played a role in advocating for this cause. We thank the tribal youth who initiated this movement. We thank the millions of people around the globe who expressed support for our cause. We thank the thousands of people who came to the camps to support us, and the tens of thousands who donated time, talent, and money to our efforts to stand against this pipeline in the name of protecting our water. We especially thank all of the other tribal nations and jurisdictions who stood in solidarity with us, and we stand ready to stand with you if and when your people are in need.

Throughout this effort I have stressed the importance of acting at all times in a peaceful and prayerful manner – and that is how we will respond to this decision. With this decision we look forward to being able to return home and spend the winter with our families and loved ones, many of whom have sacrificed as well. We look forward to celebrating in wopila, in thanks, in the coming days.

We hope that Kelcey Warren, Governor Dalrymple, and the incoming Trump administration respect this decision and understand the complex process that led us to this point. When it comes to infrastructure development in Indian Country and with respect to treaty lands, we must strive to work together to reach decisions that reflect the multifaceted considerations of tribes.

Treaties are paramount law and must be respected, and we welcome dialogue on how to continue to honor that moving forward. We are not opposed to energy independence, economic development, or national security concerns but we must ensure that these decisions are made with the considerations of our Indigenous peoples.

To our local law enforcement, I hope that we can work together to heal our relationship as we all work to protect the lives and safety of our people. I recognize the extreme stress that the situation caused and look forward to a future that reflects more mutual understanding and respect.

Again, we are deeply appreciative that the Obama Administration took the time and effort to genuinely consider the broad spectrum of tribal concerns. In a system that has continuously been stacked against us from every angle, it took tremendous courage to take a new approach to our nation-to-nation relationship, and we will be forever grateful."

(http://standwithstandingrock.net/standing-rock-sioux-tribes-statement-u-s-army-corps-engineers-decision-not-grant-easement/) 

Living Laudato Si: Women's Global Connection

This month we lift up and celebrate the great work of Women’s Global Connection in living Laudato Si.  Women’s Global Connection is a ministry of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word started by Sr. Dot Ettling and Sr. Neomi Hayes in 2001 to promote the learning and leadership capacity of women locally and globally.  The organization is currently run by Executive Director Lisa Uribe.  Women’s Global Connection (WGC) has projects supporting women in San Antonio, Tanzania, Zambia, and Peru. 

One project that deeply connects with the message of Laudato Si is their water project in Bukoba, Tanzania.  Pope Francis reminds us, “Fresh drinking water is an issue of primary importance, since it is indispensable for human life and for supporting terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Sources of fresh water are necessary for health care, agriculture and industry” (LS 28).   

Women are traditionally the ones to go and gather water from rivers or lakes to use each day, and these trips to gather water can take up to 6 hours each day between 3-4 trips.  The water containers they use typically only hold five gallons, weighing about 44 pounds, which are carried back to their village.  Due to the time required for this task, many girls are unable to continue with their studies, and girls and women are also at greater risk of physical attack or sexual violence during these trips to gather water. 

One innovative solution to assist with this water gathering is a device called the Hippo Water Roller, which is a large barrel holding 24 gallons of water that can be pushed or rolled with a resistance making it feel like just over 20 pounds.  One fill up of this Hippo Water Roller can provide enough water for a family of five for a day, only requiring one trip.  However the high cost of the Hippo’s, including shipping from South Africa where they are made, makes this purchase near impossible for most of the families in Bukoba, Tanzania.   

The approach of Women’s Global Connection to this problem of access to sufficient clean water sources matches their mission: access to education and resources.  One example of this is the WGC Rainwater Harvester Building Project begun in 2011 as part of their Clean Water Project.  Women are trained in the skills of building a rain harvester and the whole community comes together to gather the materials and participate in the construction which takes about one week.  One water harvester can serve 25 families in the village.  Since 2011, 35 rain harvesters have been constructed, benefiting more than 800 families.    

Another is collaboration with the Women’s Water Initiative to train women in the implementation of water related strategies including tools to educate their community about hygiene and water protection as well as technical skills to build rainwater harvesting tanks, water treatment technologies and toilets.

We celebrate and congratulate Women’s Global Connection for their commitment to women around the world and their work to ensure access to clean drinking water for so many families in Tanzania!  Thank you for living Laudato Si by strengthening communities, sharing resources and knowledge, and protecting our mother earth through women’s empowerment and leadership!  

People of Faith Stand with Standing Rock #NoDAPL

(From our friends at Franciscan Action Network (FAN))

November is Native American Heritage Month. What better time to stand up and show our support of our Native brothers and sisters in Standing Rock and other tribes who have been peacefully protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline from going through their sacred lands. Organizations such as Pax Christi USA and Creation Justice Ministries have developed prayers and petitions to bring awareness to this wrong that needs to be righted.

In some cases, there have been representatives able to go to the camp, join in the ceremonies and bring back eyewitness accounts of the people and their stories. Just this past weekend, four sisters: two Sisters of St. Francis (Oldenburg) plus two School Sisters of Notre Dame (Mankato province) drove to Standing Rock with coats and other supplies and to be there as a gesture of solidarity. Mercy Sisters Aine O’Connor and Kathleen Erickson and the Sisters of Mercy West-Midwest Justice Coordinator, Mike Poulin also headed out to be a part of the Solidarity Circle, described below. Additionally, a Mercy Lay Associate, Virginia Fifield of the Akwesausne, who went to Standing Rock in September posted this blog of her time there.

Those mentioned above joined a group of nearly 500 faith leaders and clergy in a Multifaith Solidarity Circle in Support of Standing Rock. FAN urged people of all faiths across the country to fast and pray in a coordinated prayer of solidarity to support those in North Dakota. Here is a post of FAN’s prayer service on Facebook.

As the protests continue, we urge members and friends to continue to pray and show your support of our native brothers and sisters. For concrete ideas on what you can do, go online to Stand with Standing Rock.net.