A School for Tsipasi (Yes that's right, a SCHOOL!)

The Move Project was started to break the cycle of poverty in unique and custom ways. That's because the contributing factors to each community's level of poverty are unique to that community. 

However, we also know all factors boil down to basic human needs: access to clean water and food, shelter, and freedom. That's why we've structured the organization to focus on those three areas of need.

We've known all along that as we establish partnerships, initiate projects, and provide assistance to communities in need, we'd need to adapt to the comminity's most pressing needs.  

That's why we operate one project at a time. It allows us to be focused, adapt quickly, and build on our efforts to maximize our impact.  

We want to be excellent stewards of your generous contributions.  

All that to say... 

Tsiapsi received clean water earlier this year and now we're ready to take the next step with their community. 

After speaking with their village chief and elders and our in-country contacts, one of which is a headmaster at a private school, we are ready to launch our next project.  

We are building a school in Tsipasi! 

We'll lay out the details, answer questions, and share more about our long term strategy in the region this week, but for now, we invite you to join us in our initial fundraising to change the course of history in Ghana, one child at a time! 

You can give, as always, by scrolling down and clicking the donate button, but you can also give exclusively to this project (and learn a bit more about it) by going HERE and selecting 'The Move Project Academy' at checkout.

Tsipasi and Gbanabey, on a map!

We are excited to announce the wells for Gbanabey (two of them!) are now under construction. Today the sites of the wells was determined and we expect drilling to begin Monday. 

You may be wondering what we initially wondered when we were told about each village...where in the world is that?! 

When we were initially told about Tsipasi, we had to have our in-country contact send us a map with a circle around the area, since the village is remote enough to not show up on maps. Well...we're happy to show you exactly where the wells are, using GPS coordinates and images on Google maps.

Here you are: 

If you'd like to contribute to our work in Ghana, scroll down and click the donate button.

Every dollar counts! 

Water Ride at Cycle Down Dawg

On Saturday the 18th, we had our second indoor Water Ride, and our first hosted by cycling and yoga shop Cycle Down Dawg. 

We had 43 people participate and raised $2,808.91. That's enough money for just over a half of a clean water borehole well like we installed in Tsipasi, and we're installing in Gbanabey.  

If you'd like to help push us to our goal of $5,000 for one well, scroll to the bottom of this page and click the Donate button.

Many thanks to those who rode, to our hosts Cycle Down Dawg, and these sponsors: 

Ashworth Vision Clinic

SuperCuts

Ponderosa Valley Wellness

Kris' Hot Yoga 

ABC Sign and Display

Partners in Hair 

Blue Frog Marketing

Stadia Sports Medicine

Meydan Farms

Kevin and Charity Moreland and Family

Let's show them love and support their businesses!  

Ride a bike. Save a life.

We are thrilled to be hosting our second ever indoor water ride. The ride will be at Cycle Down Dawg in Waukee, IA. 

The event is Saturday, October 18th from 8:30-2:30. You can register for 30 minute time slots, each seat costs $20. 

$20. 30 minutes. Clean water. 

Register here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-water-ride-2014-cycle-down-dawg-tickets-13146303949

Gbanabey

The rural farming village of Gbanabey is excited to have clean water for the first time in their history. We've said this before, but it's as true as ever - together we are creating new realities for our neighbors in Gbanabey.

Clean water for this community means healthier people and less time spent retreiving contaminated water, both of which aid in breaking the cycle of poverty in the area.

The unique opportunity we have with providing the village with clean water is that there are four additoinal villages in the immediate area that will benefit from the well.

This means we may be pursuing a second (at least) well in the area to ensure the impact if felt within Gbanabey and also the surrounding villages.

To donate toward this work, scroll down and click the Donate button at the bottom of the page. We appreciate your support and are excited for what's to come!

United Way Giving Campaigns

United Way campaigns are kicking off all over the country. Your workplace, like many others, is likely encouraging you to give a donation.

We are proud to be a certified United Way giving partner!

You can designate your donation to our work in Des Moines and in Ghana through the United Way giving campaign. Simply search "Move Project" as our "the" got cut off. :)

Here are just a few things your donations help us accomplish:

Provide clean water to those without, saving lives in rural Ghana

Provide sanitation training, which also saves lives

Provide toiletries to the Central Iowa Shelter and Services in Des Moines, allowing them to better assist the homeless population transition into housing  

Meet Gbanabey

We are thrilled to announce we've located the village who will receive our next clean water well. Gbanabey in the Greater Accra Region is in the same region as our first well we installed in Tsipasi. 

Like Tsipasi, Gbanabey is a rural village without access to clean water.  

We've worked with our in-country contact to locate the village, and will now begin work with a local contractor to install the well.  

More info to come in the next few days and weeks!

Cholera outbreak in Ghana - "pandemic situation"

There has been a cholera outbreak in Ghana's capital city, Accra. Officials are pointing to poor sanitation as the reason for the outbreak, and are citing the impoverished areas of the city as the reason for the outbreak. Yahoo! News reported on the outbreak and it's worth a read. 

From the article:

"Cholera has killed more than 40 people in Accra since June and infected 3,100 others, according to the Ghana Health Service.

While the sprawling city has been hit by cholera before, the director of health services for the greater Accra region, Linda Van Otoo, said the current outbreak was "staggering".

...Cholera causes diarrhoea, dehydration and death if left untreated. It is transmitted by ingesting food or drink contaminated with human waste."

This is precisely why we are pursuing clean water and sanitation in remote, impoverished areas in the Greater Accra Region. 

The answer to this problem, and the way to ensure this doesn't happen again starts with clean water and sanitation education.  

Here's the article.  

Why would we do this?

Why go to the work of flying a team across the globe, buy (some of the) equipment to film a professional documentary, and complete the production process to create and distribute a film? 

It was an idea we contemplated for a long time. After meeting the people of Tsipasi and understanding the reality for the people in the region if they don't have access to clean water, we had both motivation and crystal clear perspective. 

We must do this because the more we tell the hopeful story of what access to clean water does for a community, the more people get involved, and the more kids end up with clean water and in school and not sold onto fishing boats as slaves on the Volta River. 

And not just kids in general.

This isn't a theoretical problem.

It's these kids. With names and faces and pasts and bright futures. Walking a short distance from the well instead of a long trek to a river. 

We must move. 

Join us. 

These kids will grow up with clean water!

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Yes...yes it is. 

It's so exciting for us to know the impact we're having on the village of Tsipasi. But it's photos like this that really bring it home. These kids will grow up with clean water. How exciting is that?!

They no longer have to walk long distances to get water from contaminated sources. They will know the reality of growing up with clean water in their village. Something their parents and grandparents likely didn't know. 

This is a story of hope! 

We're raising funds for a documentary to tell this story. Will you join us?

Tsipasi means...

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The irony of where we installed our first well is that the village name, Tsipasi, means place of abundant water in the native language. 

Until we installed our well in Tsipasi, they did not have access to clean water. Water was not only not abundant, it was non-existent. Together, though, we helped the village create a new reality. One in which their children don't have to walk long distances to retrieve contaminated water. 

Although access to clean water is only one contributing factor to the cycle of poverty, we removed that factor and replaced it with a well that will serve the community and the surrounding area. From there, we will work with the village on sanitation, education, infrastructure, and on and on and on. We are not satisfied with dropping in a well and wishing them luck. We are in this for the long haul. We are in this to help the people of Tsipasi lift themselves out of the cycle of poverty.

Together, we are helping shape that reality for our neighbors in Ghana. 

We aren't stopping there. We want to tell the story of empowerment, hope, and new realities that come with access to clean water. 

Will you help us tell that story?

Join us here. 

Big News!

Big News

We've funded a second well!

With the support of dozens of people in both our indoor ride this spring and our second annual outdoor ride in May, we have successfully funded our second well! Thank you first and foremost to all who contributed to those efforts! Your generosity toward our clean water projects is inspiring. 

The well we installed in Tsipasi following the indoor ride is operational, and the village now has clean water for the first time in history.

We created a new reality for that community, and we're thrilled to see what's next. 

We are working with our in-country contacts to determine the location of the second well, but we do know it will be in the Greater Accra region, the same region as Tsipasi (we'll be doing some posts about Tsipasi, the Greater Accra region, and other facts on the demographic of Ghana throughout the summer - stay tuned).  

But wait...there's more!
 

Really Big News

A documentary

We just launched a fundraising campaign through Kickstarter to fund the production of a documentary. The film will focus on the joy and freedom that comes along with clean water. It will feature the work our work underway in Tsipasi and the Greater Accra region, and also help us tell the story of just how much clean water means in breaking the cycle of poverty. We've said it before but it is worth repeating, clean water is the first step in holistic, sustainable, poverty alleviation. 

We need your help! In fact, this is an all-hands-on-deck kind of deal. We need to raise $50,000 in the next 30 days for the film to be a reality. The money will be used to send a team to Ghana, purchase a few pieces of equipment, and produce the film. We are partnering with our friends at One:One Creatives to film and produce the documentary. You can learn more about the kickstarter campaign HERE. 

The reason we're doing the Kickstarter fundraiser to fund the film is to ensure 100% of funds received toward clean water projects continue to go directly to the project. This model has allowed us to fund two wells with virtually no overhead cost (major thanks to our signature sponsor, Des Moines Water Works, for helping us cover all costs associated with the rides and events).  

We also believe we'll be able to leverage the film to raise larger sums of funds for clean water, and our investment into the film will mean more villages (and regions!) get access to clean water and sanitation education. 

We'd appreciate your support in this! We have until July 22nd to raise the entire $50,000 or we don't get a penny. It's all or nothing, and we're all in.
Also, if you pledge today, you don't get charged until July 22nd, and that's only if we're fully funded. You can also change your pledge at any point during the campaign. 

Join us here. 

Thank you!

The Move Project team

The Water Ride Recap

Success! 

Over 80 people participated in the ride and...

$7,022.27 was raised for clean water!

We are honored to use every penny raised to provide access to clean water and improve basic sanitation for our neighbors in Ghana.

Huge thank you to all those who rode, volunteered, and donated. 

Also many thanks to our sponsor, Des Moines Water Works for their support of this project! Their support allows us to allocate 100% of funds received to clean water projects.

To stay up to date on the progress of the well in Tsipasi and our other initiatives, subscribe to our newsletter HERE. 

WATER!

Tsipasi saw clean water today! 

This video is from the site where we are installing our well in Tsipasi, and shows the incredible moment (at the :50 mark) where they struck water. 

We are so grateful to witness this moment from across the globe, and know this is just the first, albeit significant, step in holistic and sustainable poverty alleviation in the area. 

Thank you to all those who have volunteered at events, donated to our work, and registered to ride in The Water Ride! You've made this possible.

Together we're making a move, and creating new realities for our neighbors in rural Ghana.

How we are able to dedicate 100% of funding to clean water

If you've attended our events, like the upcoming Water Ride (on May 17th - sign up today!) you know we designate 100% of all funds received at our project events to the respective project, like drilling our first clean water well in Ghana.

We're dedicated to this because we believe more in clean water than we do in overhead costs.

"How much goes to overhead?" is a common question that can potentially become an obstacle for some. When the answer is "none" it helps people feel more comfortable take what is perhaps their first step in pursuing poverty alleviation, which is why we exist.

We are able to do this by pursuing private,  not project-specific, funding. And we have a fun opportunity for you to get involved. 

A couple years ago, we did a short run of black t-shirts for our board members only. They were a hit! We still to this day get questions on how people can get one. Up until now they've been unavailable. Until now... 

As a way to raise money to cover overhead costs so we can continue to dedicate 100% of project proceeds directly to the project, and to finally give people the opportunity to own a coveted black TMP t-shirt, we launched a campaign on Bonfire. You can see the shirts and place your order by clicking here.

 Thanks for your support!

Clean water = new realities

We received a few bits of great news this week. Despite a one-day delay in drilling, we were advised the location of the well has been determined and the drilling is underway. 

Better news than that, perhaps, was that the village of Tsipasi has established a committee to oversee and maintain the well.

This is a big deal because African countries are peppered with non-functioning wells, confirming the fact that material goods (even clean water wells) don't break the cycle of poverty. 

What breaks the cycle of poverty is a community engaged in their own alleviation of poverty. It takes village leaders, men, women, and children, all working together for the betterment of their community.  

We we believe it starts with the building block of clean water. But it doesn't end there. 

Clean water was the beginning, and now we focus on other building blocks like sanitation and education. And we do so by empowering those who already had the foresight to establish a committee to ensure their clean water continues to flow.  

We do it by partnering with, and investing in, friends like these: 

The best is yet to come.

It's Happening!

Yesterday, our in country contact in Ghana was with our well contractor as they selected the location for the well in the village of Taipasi.

Today, drilling begins!

We'll be providing updates over the next two weeks as the well takes shape, so stay tuned.  

We will also be making a big announcement in the next few weeks about our future plans for Tsipasi. Excited to share more soon! 

Ride Bikes for Clean Water!

Here is a quick video for The Water Ride in May. Will you consider sharing with your friends, family, and social networks? You can find the video here: http://vimeo.com/88490268

May Promo Final from One:One Creatives on Vimeo.

3 Reasons We Must Act Now

Photos taken in Tsipasi, Ghana 1. This isn't shouldn't be a water source.

2. These kids shouldn't have their education impacted by their need to retrieve (contaminated) water.

3. Every family represented in this photo deserves access to clean water.

We must move.

Start here >> themoveproject.org/water

Ride a bike. Save a life.

On March 8, 2014 The Move Project, in connection with the Indianola YMCA, is hosting our first annual Indoor Water Ride. This event is part of our annual signature event, The Water Ride. Ride for a cause, and help raise the funds needed to install a clean water well in Ghana, West Africa.

100% of the proceeds will be allocated to water projects in Ghana.

Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. in the lobby of the Indianola YMCA, located at 306 East Scenic Valley Ave., Indianola IA 50125. The ride will begin at 10:00 a.m. in the YMCA's cycling studio.

You do NOT have to be a current YMCA member to participate in this event - everyone is welcome! Riders will register for one-hour increments and the event will run for six hours in total. All riders are welcome to sign up for more than one time slot.

For more information, and to register, visit themoveproject.org/water