Voices of ITT Watermark Volunteers
Clockwise from top left: ITT Watermark volunteer Eileen Bishop interviews teachers and students in Honduras; Kelly Stinson-Bagby (red hair) and her fellow ITT Watermark volunteers inspect a school latrine in Guatemala; two students at the Dionicio de Herrera school in Honduras.
ITT employees are keeping journals that capture their hands-on experiences helping bring clean water systems to Central American schools.
In spring 2009, ITT added the human element to its ITT Watermark corporate philanthropy initiative. For the past year, the company has been sponsoring water-improvement projects being coordinated by the non-profit group, Water For People, at water-stressed schools in Latin America and India.
Now, ITT volunteers are taking front-line assignments alongside Water For People's team of World Water Corps workers.
Ned Breslin, chief executive officer for Water For People says, "We created the World Water Corps as an independent arm of Water For People to look closely at and ask hard questions about our work. Water Corps personnel perform monitoring and needs assessments and look at technical issues, and the ITT volunteers bring enormous resources to us on that front."
During their week-long work trips, the ITT teams evaluate water availability, sanitation conditions and hygiene practices, take photographs, collect water samples and interview students and community members in towns needing assistance or helped in 2008 by Water For People. By visiting communities that received help in the past, the ITT teams are helping to ensure the sustainability of the projects.
The first wave of ITT volunteers visited the Central American countries of Honduras and Guatemala in April 2009.
Kelly Stinson-Bagby from ITT's Night Vision business volunteered to go to Guatemala. She hopes this trip will be an example for her young daughter who was adopted from a developing area, and she plans to share her stories with others in hopes that her experience will raise recognition of world water needs.
On Monday, April 20, she wrote in her journal: "Today, we visited two schools and observed their water, sanitation systems and hygiene practices. Not all of the children knew when to wash their hands or used the toilets on a regular basis. The second school has a high rate of death among the children because of the water sanitation. This is a worthwhile effort to help other human beings to have their basic needs met."
In the neighboring nation of Honduras, Ellen Bishop from ITT's Residential and Commercial Water business, conducted interviews with students and teachers that opened her eyes to the realities of getting — and keeping — clean running water to remote, rural schools.
Her journal entry for April 15 reads: "We learned that new facilities constructed by Water For People were not yet connected to the main community line. They were hopeful that it would be connected next week. I also had the chance to meet with the president of the Parent-Teachers Association, only to find out they didn't have the funds to continue maintenance of the project. But the Water For People project leader informed us that he is working with the municipal government on a large, 17-community project that will modernize the infrastructure to ensure that this town and others receive water when needed."
At the end of the week, she wrote: "I am encouraged about the progress that the water projects are making for these communities, but also acutely aware of how far there is to go."
The work of these ITT volunteers will help Water For People accelerate progress of its projects in these water-stressed areas.
To learn more about the ITT Watermark project and read more of their first-hand, front-line journal entries, go to: http://www.ittwatermark.com/WIAction_main.htm
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