FAQs
FAQs
Water FAQs
Q. What is Break the Cycle of Hunger.org?
A. Break the Cycle of Hunger.org is a Naples/Estero Florida based 501(C)(3) non-profit charity organization. We build deep water wells in remote Tanzania and Kenya and hand out mosquito nets to combat the debilitating and often deadly Malaria. We also coordinate sanitation systems at large rural schools in Africa. Break the Cycle of Hunger.org firmly believes clean, safe water is a basic human right that must be met to help people break the cycle of poverty.
Q. What is the goal of Break the Cycle of Hunger.org?
A. Break the Cycle of Hunger.org’s goal is to provide schools and communities with tools they need to improve childrens heath, increase school attendance numbers, and promote gender equality, which are all key to helping community’s move themselves out of poverty.
Q. Is Break the Cycle of Hunger.org affiliated with any political or religious organizations?
A. No, Break the Cycle of Hunger.org does not have any affiliations with any political or religious organizations and has no political or religious agenda of any kind. We exist purely as a humanitarian aid group working in water, sanitation, education, gender equality and community development. I will say with a lot of fond emotion that the Catholic Diocese of Moshi, Tanzania has helped us out greatly by guiding us to where the need was the greatest, endorsing Break the Cycle of Hunger.org, and often times allowing me to ride along with the area priest to extremely remote villages and personally introducing me to the senior village elders. This alone saved us months of networking.
Q. Who is the Founder/CEO of Break the Cycle of Hunger.org?
A. Break the Cycle of Hunger.org was founded by Michael DeVolder after he spent extensive time in and around New Orleans and Biloxi right after Hurricane Katerina.
Q. Why should I care?
A. Every year 1.4 million children die from diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. That adds up to 4,000 children dying every day or one child every 20 seconds. All these deaths are easily preventable by simply providing clean water and sanitation.
About Donations
Q. How much of donations go directly to the cause?
A. When running an organization that has a large program on the ground here in Florida and in Africa, there will always be expenses. We try to keep our overhead expenses to a minimum so that as much as 78 percent to go directly to the operation of drilling deep water wells and 22% goes to the support operations here in Florida.
Q. How will my donations be spent?
A. Your donation will be spent on building wells and sanitation systems as well as facilitating programs that promote health, sanitation, and community involvement in maintaining the wells. A minimal percentage of your donation may be used to cover operating costs such as printing, web posting, staff salaries, and transportation in Africa, but this is unavoidable with any organization where much of its work happens in the developing world. Also, the handing out of mosquito nets to combat deadly Malaria at large community gatherings will be an active part of where your generous donation will be spent. Interestingly, some of our donors have raised funds creatively – from hosting charity streams to organizing friendly rounds of poker in online casinos – showing that even leisure activities can support life-changing causes when done with purpose.
Q. Is my donation tax deductible?
A. Yes, Break the Cycle of Hunger.org is a registered 501(c)(3) not for profit organization. Our IRS EIN# is 27-0656814. Started December 2009.
Get Involved
Q. Can I directly accompany Break the Cycle of Hunger.org on trips?
A. Sorry, but no. Remote Africa comes with significant challenges and dangers. In addition, the hazards of being around an active drilling operation comes with many issues. Plus, we are not set up to be tour guides, nor can we guarantee your health and safety while in our care.
Q. How many people does one well serve?
A. We strive to serve as many people as possible, and so we prioritize building water projects with and in communities (villages) that range in size from as few as 300 to as many as 2500 people served by one water project.
Q. How long does a well last?
A. One of the most devastating and least talked about facts is that the failure rate of borehole wells implemented by foreign NGO’s (Non-Governmental Organizations) on the continent of Africa alone is upwards of 50% within the first year! This is beyond alarming, and largely is due to a lack of community engagement, sweat equity, ownership, training, and technical processes that are overlooked and left out of the well building process by many groups. Because of this, we have worked tirelessly with our Water Project Technical Committee to establish incredibly stringent “Standards for Sustainability” that govern how we build wells to ensure that our wells last. Our wells should last upwards to 40years. *Data sourced from UN
Q. Do you fund wells in the United States?
A. The water crisis, and poverty, are both relative. Even our homeless in the United States have access to safe, clean water through public amenities like drinking fountains, toilets, and sinks. No one dies from cholera or dysentery or diarrhea in the United States, not even on Native America reservations. We focus our efforts where human life is threatened because of waterborne diseases caused by a lack of access to safe, clean water, which, thankfully, no one in the United States TRULY goes without.
Sustainability Standards
Standards for Implementing Water Projects
WATER PROJECT TECHNICAL BOARD
All of Break the Cycle of Hunger.org’s implementing activity is overseen and managed by the organization’s Water Project Technical Board. This group of five individuals is made up of leading experts in the field of water and sustainability. The Water Project Technical Board meets quarterly to review and approve the selection of upcoming projects to be implemented by the organization in the coming months. The Board reviews and approves Site Assessments, Quotes, and Planned Action before a project is funded. After projects are complete, they review Completed Reports, Pump Tests, and Water Quality Tests for each site.
COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability is Break the Cycle of Hunger.org’s number one core value when it comes to implementing water projects in developing nations. This document outlines how Break the Cycle of Hunger.org assesses the “sustainability” of the organization’s water wells. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the average life span of a water well in Africa is 1 to 4 years, and the failure rate of borehole wells implemented by NGOs on the continent is upwards of 60% within the first 4 years. This is alarmingly high, and entirely unacceptable, as most “failures” are completely preventable if the following sustainability measures and appropriate community engagement are in place. Relatively few organizations build sustainability measures in their water projects to ensure the long-term benefits and operation of water wells.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Under the direction of the Water Project Technical Board, Break the Cycle of Hunger.org utilizes a GIS-based Project Management System that allows for the tracking of all completed water well projects, as well as in-process projects that have been approved by the Board and are under development. Break the Cycle of Hunger.org Team must collect and continually update background information on water quality issues for each country in which the organization is active.
DRILLING PARTNERS
When implementing water projects in the field, Break the Cycle of Hunger.org hires local drilling companies to drill and construct its projects in the developing countries in which the organization works. By hiring local contractors and overseeing them with the expertise of our Water Project Technical Board, the organization funds and supports the local economy, while providing the best service to the communities. Break the Cycle of Hunger.org and its drilling partners sign a contractual document that includes everything contained in these standards to ensure accountability in construction. In vetting the organization’s drilling partners prior to hire, the organization ensures that the typical timeline for project completion that the driller quotes is reasonable and competitive with the market. Break the Cycle of Hunger.org also establishes a system for reporting progress from the driller to the organization throughout that process. Break the Cycle of Hunger.org requires that each driller provide an itemized and comprehensive cost breakdown of all quotes, estimates, and supplies for accurate accounting.
The following are the steps in Break the Cycle of Hunger.org’s life cycle of completing a water project.
1.) Identify and Qualify a Community in Need
Break the Cycle of Hunger.org Team employs nationals as “Community Development Officers” on the ground in every country the organization works in to manage relationships with drillers and communities and to oversee the implementation of all projects. These Community Development Officers collect and compile Assessments on all communities in which Break the Cycle of Hunger.org works. Assessments must include the following data:
- What is the Community Name?
- What are the GPS Coordinates of the Community?
- What is the Population of the Community?
- How many homesteads in the Community?
- What is the Current Water Source? (ex. Pond? Stream? River?)
- What is the Distance from the Community to the Current Water Source (In either Miles or Kilometers.)
- What Water-Related Illnesses has the Community dealt with in the Past? (Cholera? Schistosomiasis? Extreme/Fatal Diarrhea?)
- Have there been any Water-Related Deaths in the Community in the past 5 years? If yes, how many?
Based on the results of these Assessments, the Water Project Technical Board determines whether a submitted Community qualifies for a well or not. If they do, the organization proceeds to the next step in the life cycle of completing a water project.
2.) Sample Area Wells
Prior to surveying approved communities that qualify for a water well to determine the best location to drill, Break the Cycle of Hunger.org must sample other existing wells in the area. If there are problematic contaminants discovered, the Water Project Technical Board will determine the best course of action.
3.) Complete Hydrogeology Surveys
The drillers assigned to the approved community use a Hydrogeology Surveys to first assess the water table and aquifer of the region in which the organization looks to build, to assure the well installed is appropriate and will not overdraft the aquifer and destroy it before the water table has time to replenish during rainy times. In addition to protecting the aquifer, this ensures that the community always has an adequate supply of water to meet the needs of the population.
***At this point, the drilling team drills the borehole, installs the casings, cements around the casings, and trenches to create the foundation of the base. ***
4.) Perform Pump Tests
The drilling team inserts a pump into the drilled borehole and pumps for 6 to 8 hours straight. This allows the organization to assess the yield of the borehole to ensure that the water supply is adequate to meet the needs of the community.
5.) Perform Water Quality Tests
Break the Cycle of Hunger.org’s drilling partners then collect samples from the new borehole and ship them to certified laboratories for “water quality” testing. Clear water is not necessarily safe water. There are many naturally occurring contaminants that can seriously harm an individual’s health and quality of life.
***At this point, the drilling team pours the cement to complete the construction of the base, installs the hand pump, installs any necessary filters or treatments based on Water Quality Test Results, and constructs fencing around the well to keep animals away.
6.) Engage the Local Community
Break the Cycle of Hunger.org must always involve local communities in its water well projects. Community involvement is a critical component to water well sustainability. If an organization puts a water-well into a village without community participation and contribution (financial or sweat-equity), then sustainability, the effectiveness and the benefit of that water well is highly questionable. Each community must either contribute financially to the project in some way or they must contribute sweat-equity to the project in some way. This is critical, because it creates a sense of ownership over the project, rather than Break the Cycle of Hunger.org just going into communities and giving stuff away
7.) Form Water Committees
Break the Cycle of Hunger.org must work with community leadership to form “Water Committees” in each community where a well is built Water Committees are vital to effective water projects and community development. These committees are formed to both manage water resources and promote hygiene within the community. Members are trained in business management, pump maintenance and repair, hygiene, and sanitation. Further, women are represented equally on these committees, which begins to engender a more equitable position for women in their community.
8.) Complete Sanitation & Hygiene Training
The organization pairs sanitation facilities (i.e., latrines) and hygiene education (hand-washing training, etc.) with the provision of clean water. 88% of diseases in the developing world are water related. The majority of health benefits of clean water (i.e. reduction in diarrheal rates) are only realized accompanied by good sanitation and hygiene education.
General Questions
Donating to Break the Cycle of Hunger.org
Q. How can I donate to Break the Cycle of Hunger.org?
A. You can donate using any major credit card or via PayPal.
Q. I’d like to donate in honor of someone. How can I do this?
A. To donate in someone’s honor, fill out the donation form and at the bottom of the form select the box that says, “I would like this donation to be made in honor of someone.” You can then write a custom message that we will email to the person you are honoring.
Q. Can I donate money to a specific project or geography?
A. The most efficient and effective way to make an impact is to make a general donation to Break the Cycle of Hunger.org. Your financial gift will be leveraged for the most urgent needs. Our more than 14 years of experience gives us the insights and learnings to maximize our impact together. Further, there are administrative costs associated with directing your funds to a specific country or geography which can decrease the overall impact of your gift.
Q. Is my donation tax-deductible?
A. Gifts are deductible under applicable laws. Break the Cycle of Hunger.org is a US registered 501(c)(3) organization. Our Tax-ID number is 27-0656814. Please consult your tax professional if you have questions.
Why Donate?
Q. How do I know my money is being well spent?
A. When you donate to Break the Cycle of Hunger.org, you can be assured that your donation is making an impact in the area that needs it most. We are excellent stewards of all gifts we receive.
Collectively, Break the Cycle of Hunger.org spends 78% of its funds on programming to change lives with safe water and 22% on program support. We are confident that we deliver effective solutions that will transform lives with safe water and sanitation, and we’d love for you to be a part of our work.
Ways to get involved with Break the Cycle of Hunger.org
Q. Can I raise money for Break the Cycle of Hunger.org? How?
A. You can raise money to change lives with safe water! Thank you for considering using your passions, talents, and connections to do so. We love it when our supporters get creative and come up with personalized ideas.
Q. How do you monitor and evaluate your work?
A. Break the Cycle of Hunger.org maintains a robust strategy to monitor and evaluate all our programs. We work closely with our in-country partners to design a program that is right for them and help ensure the program is successful and meeting household needs in the area. Break the Cycle of Hunger.org staff communicate with partners on a weekly, and often daily, basis as well as conduct occasional visits with our partners and the households we serve. These visits help to validate the work our partner is doing.