Alexi, Tennille and Jen gave up ten days of their summer to bring life to a small town in Tanzania and in return their lives were impacted greatly. Here is their story!

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Alexi describes the hardships these families face just to have water, and how much we take for granted here in America.

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Over the years, Tennille and I have seen a share of hardships that the people in Tanzania live with; from drinking from a swamp like hole in the ground, to walking HOURS for water from a filthy river, but today paled in comparison.

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Today we saw a group of women, all with their buckets in line, gathered around a hole no more than 6 or 7 feet deep, waiting.  As we got closer, that hole contained inside of it a small “spring” of water about 12 inches in diameter.  Now when I say “spring” please don’t confuse it with the “spring” water that all of our fancy bottled waters come from.  And it’s certainly not flowing as you would expect a spring to flow.  It was a measly little puddle, and a muddy one at that.  THIS was their water source.  When we got there it was about 1:30pm, and we found out that the woman who just put the last cup’s worth of water into her bucket had been filling that single bucket since 7:30am!

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The average African FAMILY uses five 20L buckets of water PER DAY.  The AVERAGE AMERICAN (that means ONE person, people!) uses the equivalent of 400 20L buckets per day!  WOW.   (I bet if we had to walk for our water and carry it back on our heads bucket by buckets we wouldn’t use as much!)

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Jen fills us in on what it these women go through everyday just to have water in their homes.

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Today we went to Mangalali, the village where the well was built last summer with donations from Quiksilver Women’s eco-friendly product revenue, as well as private donations raised by E.P.I.C. We began the morning by meeting some local women at the well. They brought us buckets and took us to the Ruaha River where they used to gather water before the well was dug.  It was a beautiful walk due to the natural untouched landscape; however, this walk can be very dangerous for women and children walking alone.  Many have been raped along this route. After about 45 minutes, we arrived at the river with our buckets in hand. The water was so dirty it look brown and very cloudy.  We picked up the buckets we had filled with water from the river and placed them on top of our heads.  My bucket was the same size most children carry, holding 10 liters of water, half the size the mamas carry!  It was so heavy that I needed help placing it on my head.

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This walk was an eye-opening experience to say the least. My neck was hurting, my shoulders and the top center of my head.  At one point, I was holding the bucket with one hand and the back of my neck with the other.  I heard a giggle from one of the mamas because she saw me holding my neck.  I wanted to give up to stop the pain, but I knew I had to complete the walk without putting the bucket down.  If these women did this every day 3-4 times a day, I had to do it at least once.

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Tennille describes how much joy a clean water well brings to a village in Tanzania.

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One of the most memorable experiences of the trip for me was going to Mangalali, a very rural village in Iringa, about eight hours away by bus from where we were staying in Kawe.  Mangalali is where we drilled our second well, with the help of the royalties from QSW.

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The well at Mangalali was incredible to see, especially after knowing how much it is needed there!  The people in the village have taken such pride in it too, and have already built a wall around it in order to protect it, and were digging a drainage system for it as well while we were there.  We are so proud of everything they have been doing in order to properly maintain both the hand-pump, and the well itself, so we feel very confident that it will provide the people with all of their water needs for many years to come!

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It is impossible to come here without realizing how necessary it is to keep doing what we have been doing, in order to provide as many villages as we possibly can with sustainable access to safe, clean water.  Water here really is more important than gold, it is life, and to be able to give life to people who truly cherish it, is the greatest gift of all.

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Our girls, Alexi and Tennille of E.P.I.C. (Everyday People Initiating Change) recently set out on an adventure to  continue their mission to drill clean, sustainable water wells in communities that don’t have access to clean water. Inspired by our E.P.I.C women, Jen Barrios of Quiksilver, felt a desire to join in on the efforts and booked a ticket to join them in Africa.

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Three women willing to give up their free time and comforts of home to make a difference – AMAZING! Over the next few days we will get to hear some of their stories and find out what they were feeling on this E.P.I.C. adventure.

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Let’s tune in to their initial thoughts as they began their quest.

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Jen

“I’m due to arrive in Dar Es Salaam tomorrow afternoon.  I have a layover in Dubai and I’m sitting in my hotel room thinking to myself…I’ve read about so many people doing amazing things, volunteering their time to help strangers, and I’ve always had great respect for them, admired them for leaving what they know.  It takes courage because leaving your comfort zone can be quite scary…and to leave it for someplace halfway around the world, even more so.  I know the kind of person who can do this; I’ve just recently married one.  But even when my husband left last summer for 3 months in West Africa, I never thought that someday, I would really ever have the guts to do it.  Mind you, I’m not reaching so far out my comfort zone, I’m only going for 10 days, which actually bums me out because I’m not sure I can honestly see and feel, truly understand the people I’m going to learn from in such a short amount of time.  But this is my opportunity, so no matter how short, I’m going to take it all in, let them into my heart, and see what I can take back with me to share with everyone at home.”

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Alexi

“Our fourth year in Tanzania… I can’t believe that we’re here again.  It seems every year times goes a little faster, and the days in between trips grow shorter and shorter.  I have mixed feelings as we enter our “Africa home” in Kawe, Tanzania: anxious, excited, tired and (always) hungry.

We have a lot to do this trip: drill a well at Kibebe Village and hopefully one in Kibaha Village (if the hydro-geological test says we can find water!), conduct our hygiene and sanitation program with both the kids and adults of Mangalali Village (the site of our water well from last summer) AND scope out some new villages for next year!  (And I must add, I’m quite excited to bust out the “good teeth” – “bad teeth” sock puppets Tennille and I made during our hygiene program!)”

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Tennille

“When we pulled into Kawe, feelings of excitement filled me as I anticipated seeing everyone again!  First there was Babu, sitting outside his shop, awaiting our arrival.  The children in the neighborhood all greeted us with enthusiastic cries of, “Wazungu! Wazungu!” which means, “white people” in Swahili!

In Tanzania, life is about love, and respect for the community.  It is about fulfilling basic needs, and coming together in order to survive.  We come here to help in whatever small ways we can, but each time we come, we remember that they do so much more for us than we could ever do for them.  I am forever indebted to them for opening my eyes up to what really matters in life, and I hope that I will never forget!”

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