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As we begin the New Year, you can help spread joy around the world! Access to safe water and sanitation is a reason to celebrate! Today is your last chance to make a tax-deductible donation in 2015. Donate today, and help give a Maasai family a reason for celebration. Learn more:http://conta.cc/1OuZHTw

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Today is World Toilet Day. It is a day to take action and to help people who do not have access to a toilet. Poor sanitation increases the risk of disease and malnutrition, especially for women and children. Sanitation is a global development priority. This is why the United Nations General Assembly officially designated November 19th as World Toilet Day. Out of the world's 7 billion people: 2.4 billion people do not have adequate sanitation 1 billion people still defecate in the open My Chosen Vessels (MCV) recently completed Phase One of our Clean Waterand Sanitation Program in Kimuka, Kenya. With your continued support, we are excited to launch Phase Two. 41% of the Kimuka households do not have toilets and over 65% still practice open defecation. Our goal is to establish Kimuka as an Open Defecation Free Zone through the Ministry of Health. With $30,000, MCV can start our 2016 sanitation project. Thankfully, we were awarded a $15,000 matching grant from IMANA Medical Relief. Now we ask for your support to double our impact and to ensure every family in Kimuka has access to a toilet. You may sponsor one or more families; estimated cost for each family is $150 (cost includes sanitation training). Please donate generously. 

Learn More: http://conta.cc/1Mp6EI4

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Your donations are making a difference and saving lives!

MCV thanks you for your continued support - we can’t do this humanitarian work without YOU!  Together we can provide safe water to more children. Please donate or share - http://bit.ly/1Hgj68j

#Cleanwater #MCVwater #MCVHealth #Africa #Safewater

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Every child has the right to have access to safe water. Donate Today! No amount is too small $5, $10, $50, $100. MCV appreciates all your donations so together we can help more families receive clean water. http://bit.ly/1Hgj68j

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Building Trust with the Local Community A Memoir by Jessica Ziniel Industrial Engineer Student at Northwestern University

Although there were a million unique, unforgettable moments during our seven days in Kenya, raising the 24,000 liter tank stands out in my mind as the turning point of the week. Early on Wednesday we rallied with the crew to carry the final lengths of pipe down the road. After a morning’s worth of trench digging, pipe connecting, and backfilling, the final length was buried in the ground and everyone’s spirits were high. The week had begun with a distinct divide between the local Maasai crew in Kenya and the engineers, the “Mzungus (white people in Maasai).” Language barriers created forced interactions, and a lack of communication forged a lack of trust on both sides. As the pipeline crept its way through the dry, rocky landscape, though, that barrier began to dissolve. As I watched Brandon and Simon perfect the pipe couplings, saw Jesse and Bernard meticulously apply the coupling tape, ducked for cover as Brian and Peter hacked away at a giant boulder, and shouldered the heavy pipes with Denis, I witnessed a change I never believed would happen. Everyone was working together. In movies and in stories it seems so logical that two groups should be able to cross invisible boundaries to rally around a common cause, but in reality it’s rarely that simple. Cultural barriers meant that bonding wasn’t as simple as bringing a case of beer over to chat over after a long day. Instead, trust was built in the day-to-day interactions- taking over digging when someone was tired or continuing to work when everyone else had decided it was break time. The raising of the tank was the prime culmination of the week. Community members joined our crew as everyone contributed ideas as to how we were going to get this massive tank on top of the meter high platform. Eventually, we combined the best ideas and placed ourselves to test the most slapdash plan we had put together all week. The tallest of us were at the head of the tank to lift it and push it onto the platform. Two of the shorter, stronger guys were on either side of the tank to use the extra pipes as levers to lift the sides. Four more were on the backside of the tank to use ropes to pull the head of the tank upwards with a conglomeration of ropes we found at a nearby homestead. Our system was completely contingent on trust. If even just one person gave up, the balance would be thrown off and the tank would topple. We all tensed as the countdown went off and the tank began to move. In that moment we were finally all completely joined in our common purpose. We were a team moving in-sync, in perfect balance with one another. As the tank leveled with a thud and scraped across the platform a cheer erupted and hugs and high-fives abounded. We had accomplished one of our biggest goals for the trip: creating a true, lasting partnership of trust and collaboration.

See More Photographs: http://bit.ly/1Rx8V9o

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Thanks to your support, a 24,000 liter tank was installed at the new water distribution point in Kimuka, Kenya. Your donations are making a difference for Maasai families in Kimuka : http://bit.ly/1Hgj68j

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MCV water project is more than water; this water pipeline unites people! It connects those who don't have resources, with those who do have. This pipeline is bringing Maasai people together to discuss the issues within the community and discuss how they can best utilize and share the resources they have. The clean water begins at the church and aims to reach the entire community. With you support, we can unite people and strengthen this Maasai village. Donate today to supply more pipes:http://bit.ly/1Hgj68j

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"My brother is digging trenches, so I can have access to clean drinking water."  ` Nayeku, 7 years old

http://www.mychosenvessels.com/donate4.html

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The best leaders are those that are willing to get in the trenches in order to help others.

The Kimuka community members contribute to MCV Water Program by digging trenches to lay the pipes in their community. They have agreed to continue digging more trenches if MCV can continue to provide pipes to help more families receive water.

Please donate today, so MCV can provide clean water to more 

families:http://bit.ly/1Hgj68j

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Northwestern University engineering students receive real life application and mentorship through MCV Sustainable Clean Water Program. They are establishing international relationships and knowledge transfer with the local community.

MCV thanks the mentors and students who have donated countless hours the last two years developing a clean water solution in Kimuka, Kenya.

Learn More: http://www.mychosenvessels.com/meet-enigineer-team.html

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The engineering team, along with the Kimuka community members worked diligently for seven days volunteering to install the clean water distribution system. Learn more: http://www.mychosenvessels.com/

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Northwestern University engineering students and their mentors joined MCV in Kimuka, Kenya to install a clean water distribution system to Maasai families. We thank the NU - EWB team for all their hard work and dedication to MCV Sustainable Clean Water Program.

Learn More:http://bit.ly/1eAqaVt ‪#‎ewbusa‬ ‪#‎MCV‬ ‪#‎MCVwater‬  #worldwaterday 

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Maasai children in Kimuka, Kenya are filled with joy to see the water distribution supplies arrive in their village. 

http://www.mychosenvessels.com/our-water-programs.html

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MCV team joins the Maasai in prayer for clean water for all people. We thank those of you who have supported MCV Sustainable Clean Water Program for the Maasai.

Learn More: http://www.mychosenvessels.com/our-water-programs.html

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Look at all we accomplished in 6 months thanks to your support! http://www.mychosenvessels.com/6-month-report.html

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My Chosen Vessels (MCV) is excited to launch it’s social media campaign in order to take you on a journey into Kenya through Maasailand. For the last 7 years, MCV has been working closely with the Maasai in the areas of water, health, education and cultural preservation.

Follow us on social media and receive daily updates to hear stories from the Maasai people, learn about MCV programs, meet our volunteers, and learn about the Maasai rich culture and history.

We will be posting daily to keep YOU informed.  http://www.mychosenvessels.com/follow-us.html