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Paul Brandt TV

Here I am helping take the filters out of the molds. Because of the weight of the molds, they realized they needed to bring out the heavy artillery. I think Paul had to use the wide angle lens to capture my guns lifting the filter out of the mold.

Marty staring in PB TV.

Getting to work

Here's the location of the construction site, inside the village. You can see the project manager, Tse-gaye, in the blue shirt, with the molds. If you have better the 20/20, you might even see the finished filters in the background.

Our first construction site

Here's a picture of our first construction site for the village, Jeremy.

Another water source

One of the best parts of the trips were driving to the remote villages in our Toyota Land Cruiser. Here was our trek through a small river, where the people washed clothes and themselves, water the livestock, collect drinking water, etc. Pretty scary!

One of our concerts

At night we were entertained by Paul with a few of his songs. It was awesome! Here you can see Tracy completely enthralled with the personal concert and finding it difficult to hold her emotion in.

Kids in Ethiopia

Here is me with a few kids and the beautiful land scape of Ethiopia. The kid on the far left had just walked a long ways to collect water for his family.

Impacting

One of the things that was impacting to me is the fact that kids, no older than Lindy and Dylan (my kids), who had to work to see their family feed. In this picture, you see the cattle stomp on the wheat to process it.

Boy it was cold in the desert

Here is where Claude was showing the kids how to play marbles. In the picture you see how almost every person was wearing a jacket. Who could blame them? It was at least 30 degrees out. Man, I shiver even thinking it got that cold...

Giving out candies

One of the things we wished we did was to give out things to the kids when we were there. Rookie mistake. Here Paul and Deb are giving out suckers and toys to the kids.

How they get water

Here's a picture that shows the first step of water collection. They would go to a water source to collect unfiltered water. This is the same area where they clean clothes, their donkeys do their thing, cleanse themselves, and so one. You wonder why so many kids die of water borne diseases.

On a side note, one thing you realize is how the kids find simple pleasures. You can see in the picture how they love to see themselves in the camera right after you take their picture. Here's Paul with a group around him.

Our first task in Ethiopia

The first thing we did in Ethiopia was to examine the staging area for the filters. It is where the materials for the filters (sand, sheet metal, cement bags, etc) are stored before being sent to the construction area in the village. See the picture of the warehouse that shows the molds used to build the water filters.

Worst fear

My worst fear isn't getting malaria or getting cooked in a kettle by hungry cannibals waiving spears at me. (I hear they still do that around there)

Its having Paul write a song about me snoring on the plane. Yikes. 8 hours left.

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

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We made it! After a near miss in TO, we arrived in Germany at midnight (our time). Man, I'm going to have a fun time adjusting the time difference.

Every time I fly Air Canada, I'm always reminded why I say I'll NEVER fly with them again. If it wasn't for the superior service from Lufthansa, we would have been installing filters in TO. Hopefully our luggage will make it before we leave.

-Marty (on the road)

I need your help!

I have a goal of raising $5000 for the "Turn on the Taps" initiative. That means there will be 50 more water filters in the world to curb the needless child deaths. Normally every $100 you donate would buy 1 filter. Solomon Land Group has agreed to match your donation, so now your $100 will purchase 2 water filters. Sounds like a good deal to me.

So, please click here to donate online and help us provide safe, accessible water for life.

Please note that the link is a unique URL and will give Samaritan's Purse the ability to track the total amount of funds donated for this initiative. They will send me only the aggregate number (not individual donors or amounts) to calculate the matching amount.

Turn on the Taps in Africa

Well I'm fired up. Going to Africa with my wife to build water filters will be a life changing experience. If you haven't heard, let me explain.

We were invited to join Samaritan's Purse on a trip to Kenya to install water filters. What added to the excitement was the fact that Paul Brandt was part of the group. Once there, we were to install bio-sand water filters, a technology invented by a Calgarian professor. Their sports teams are horrible, but at least they've got some smart professors...

Our plan changed when the turmoil in Kenya increased. In the interest of safety, Samaritan's Purse changed our trip to Ethiopia and Egypt. We are very thankful they considered our safety in revamping the plans, even though it was more work to do so.

My intention is to keep people posted on the trip. I'll TRY to add pictures, share some stories and basically inform all friends, families and colleagues about the trip.