Rippling Waters Charity
Overview
Even the smallest pebble creates a ripple that changes the surface of the water; this is how Rippling Waters Charity views our ability to impact the world. Rippling Waters Charity was created to ensure orphans and needy children in the remotest parts of the world have access to clean water and systems to create a sustainable, food-producing eco-system. Our mission is to help orphanages across the world install and maintain aquaponic systems that they can maintain in their own communities as well as spread the knowledge to other nearby communities, creating a ripple effect that impacts and empowers current and future generations.
IAGI
Rippling Waters Charity was created in connection with the International Association of Geosynthetic Installers (IAGI) Give Back Program. Due to IAGI’s not-for-profit status, the Association is unable to collect funds for charity. Rippling Waters Charity is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that allows donors to provide charitable donations to benefit projects supported by the IAGI Give Back Program, such as the enhancements and sustainability mission for the Kego Orphanage in Kenya.
How Rippling Waters Charity Works
Rippling Waters Charity coordinates its activities with water professionals in the geosynthetic industry across the world, leveraging local resources and coordinating the engineering and technology efforts needed to develop aquaculture projects. But really, it’s simple.
An aquaponic system begins with tanks of fish. In Kenya, where the project is beginning, we are growing tilapia, which serve as a food source for the children at the orphanage where we are building the system. The fish are one source of food, but the water from the tanks is filtered and used to grow herbs, vegetables and other plants in the aquaponic garden. The waste from the fish serves as fertilizer for the plants. With one simple system, the children now have viable sources of nutrients and proteins in an easy-to-maintain system.
In addition to food, the aquaponic system provides a trade opportunity. The system will serve as a trade school for older students to learn the ins and outs of building and maintaining an aquaponic system. Over time they will be able to take this knowledge to other villages and help them build and maintain their own systems. Additionally, any food produced above and beyond the orphanage’s direct needs can be sold at the local market and serve as income to help sustain the orphanage. Beyond that, the funds will also be applied to provide secondary education and health services to the children and village as a whole.
Mission and Goals
Mission
Assist orphans and children in need throughout the world by creating water systems that provide clean water, healthy food, power, and an opportunity to create a sustainable lifecycle to better their lives and the village they live in.
Long-term Goals
The long-term goal of Rippling Waters Charity is to equip children and villages with the technical skills and knowledge to develop self-sustaining water storage and cleaning systems, ultimately enabling them share their knowledge with other villages on how to build and maintain sustainable food and water systems.