Frequently Asked Questions

Aguayuda was formed in 2006 by the Easton, Maryland-based Zimmer family to improve the quality of life and health in poor rural communities through clean water and education.

For more information: Background
 

In 1975, Simón Zimmer, cofounder of Aguayuda, was born in Bogotá, Colombia. His biological family was poor and had to make the difficult decision to give him up for adoption when he was 6 months old. He was adopted by a loving German family living in Maryland.

Not until Simón turned 25 did he ever think about going back to Colombia to discover his roots. But once the idea was set in his mind, he did everything possible to return to Colombia. Between 2003 and 2005, he served 2 years in Peace Corps in Honduras accompanied by his girlfriend and future wife, Sabrina. In late 2005, Simón and Sabrina visited Colombia for the first time. Six weeks later, after 30 long years, Simón’s birth parents were found. It was an amazing and joyous reunion, and it was at this moment that Colombia became Simón’s second home. A few months later, Aguayuda was born.

Art Zimmer, Aguayuda technical director, is an expert in water filtration and evaporation technologies with more than 35 years of experience as a chemical engineer. Through Simón and Sabrina’s experience in Honduras, they learned firsthand about the importance of access to clean water. As they started to research and learn more about the global water crisis, the shocking statistics inspired them to address the need for clean water worldwide.

For more information: Background
 

884 million people lack access to clean water. Consequently, more children die from lack of access to clean water than AIDS, malaria, and measles combined.

Therefore, Aguayuda chose to focus on clean water solutions because of the dire need shown by poor and disadvantaged people. Problems arise and linger when a community has limited or no access to clean water. Lack of clean water hinders a community from growing, prospering, and maintaining a healthy environment. Aguayuda works closely with each community to devise and deliver a sustainable clean water solution.

For more information: Background

For more information: Global Water Crisis
 

There are two unpaid full-time staff members, Simón Zimmer and Sabrina Zimmermann. Linda Zimmer and Art Zimmer serve as director and technical director, respectively, and serve on the board of directors. Doris Laumann, James Peterson, and Jack Levenson comprise the remainder of the board of directors.

In 2012, we hired three Colombians, Daut Arguelles Figueroa, Franklin Ojeda Ayala and Victor Alarcón Ruiz who work part-time for Aguayuda in La Guajira, Colombia where we have the majority of our water and education projects.

Aguayuda also has various volunteers assisting in various tasks such as grant writing, editing, fundraising, public relations, research, graphic design, translation, and project planning. In the summer of 2011, Aguayuda had its first three interns. One intern wrote about his experience in a September 2011 blog post, available at:

Ariel Blog Post

For more information: Team

For more information: Board of Directors

For more information: Volunteering
 

Aguayuda is a registered 501(c)(3) public charity. Aguayuda has a five-member board of directors.

For more information: Board of Directors
 

Symptoms of illness include skin rashes, stomach pains, and diarrhea.
 

Besides health, the lack of clean water negatively affects the quality of life for example:

• Many hours are wasted every day fetching water
• Children miss school to fetch water
• Women cannot go to work because they need to fetch water
• Children, women and men miss school or work because they are sick from contaminated water
• Lack of recreation time due to arduous water chores

Statistic:

In just one day, more than 200 million hours of women’s time are used for the most basic of human needs: collecting water for domestic use. This lost productivity is greater than the combined number of hours worked in a week by employees at Wal-Mart, United Parcel Service, McDonald’s, IBM, Target, and Kroger, according to Gary White, cofounder of Water.org.

For more information: Global Water Crisis
 

Aguayuda chooses a community according to the following criteria:

• Establish that there is a need for a water solution
• Assess the desire of the community to improve the present water situation
• Evaluate the community infrastructure
• Consider the organization of the community (e.g., Does a committee exist? Who would lead the community in this venture?)
• Evaluate the safety aspect for Aguayuda employees and volunteers
• Determine the required capital investment and the availability of funding
• Appraise the capability of Aguayuda to provide the best solution to the problem

Aguayuda has found its communities through referrals from our network of contacts in Latin America.
 

The Aguayuda solution begins with an initial on-site visit. During the visit we talk to the community, listen to their problems, needs, and ideas, and then record and observe the water problems and related issues. The next step is project preparation. In this step we prepare the technical and education solution, write proposals to foundations to receive funding, and contact companies, donors, and volunteers for support.

Next, together with the community members, local partners and subcontractors, volunteers, and Aguayuda staff, we implement the project. During project implementation a water committee is established consisting of community members. The water committee is trained on how to operate and maintain the water solution.

Depending on the water and sanitation conditions in the community, Aguayuda and its network of local subcontractors implement the following technical solutions:

• For water problems we provide wells, implement pipelines, and install rain harvesting systems, windmills, or filtration systems
• For sanitation problems we build latrines such as composting latrines, and install biodigestors or constructed wetlands to treat wastewater

For more information: Well

Furthermore, we establish an education committee consisting of community members and teachers. Aguayuda trains the education committee using educational manuals developed by Aguayuda. The education committee is responsible for sharing the knowledge with the community. The main educational workshops focus on water education and waste management.

Depending on the needs and interests of the community, Aguayuda also offers the following workshops:

• Household water and sanitation solutions
• HIV/AIDS prevention
• Drug abuse prevention
• Small business development
• Microfinance (with emphasis on community banks)
• Sustainable agriculture

For more information: Education

Once the project is complete, the monitoring and evaluation phase begins. During this long-term phase Aguayuda stays in close contact with the community through monthly site visits by our Colombian team.

During the site visits, Aguayuda evaluates the water and education committees and makes assessments of the water, health and economic situation. The assessment results are compared to the initial assessment to determine the impact of the project. If there are issues, the community’s water committee and Aguayuda’s team resolve the problem together.

Properly evaluating and monitoring the projects assures a sustainable and successful project for years to come.

For more information: How We Work
 

Water communities provide clean water and adequate sanitation by operating and maintaining installed technologies. Installed technologies include well, rain harvesting, windmill, pipeline, latrine, biodigester, constructed wetland, and filtration.

Aguayuda works together with local community members to select responsible and respected community members to make up the water committee. The water committee receives training from Aguayuda on how to operate and maintain the implemented water solution.

For more information: Sustainability
 

Education committees provide the tools and knowledge to improve health and reduce poverty through workshops. Water education, household water and sanitation, HIV/AIDS prevention, drug abuse prevention, waste management, small business development, microfinance, and sustainable agriculture are topics covered by education committees.

Aguayuda works together with local teachers and community members to select responsible and respected community members and teachers to form the education committee. The education committee then receives training from Aguayuda on how to teach the community on the above-mentioned topics.

For more information: Education Committee
 

From the initial on-site visit to the implementation of the project, it takes approximately 1 year. The span of time varies for each project and the level of complexity regarding method and cost. The projects we have done so far have all been installed in approximately 1 week. Fundraising is the part of the solution that takes the longest because it requires the submission of proposals to foundations and seeking donations from our donors through newsletters, e-mails, Internet, and local outreach.
 

An important component to any Aguayuda project is the evaluation and monitoring of the project after the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Aguayuda stays in close contact with the community through monthly site visits by our Colombian team. During the site visits, Aguayuda evaluates the water and education committees and makes assessments of the water, health and economic situation. The assessment results are compared to the initial assessment to determine the impact of the project. If there are issues, the community’s water committee and Aguayuda’s team resolve the problem together.

For more information: Monitoring and Evaluation
 

Aguayuda volunteers in the United States have not yet participated on-site for projects in Colombia or Costa Rica. Future volunteer participation is an organizational goal.
 

For more information: Completed Projects
 

Aguayuda relies on the generosity of donors. Depending on the project, expenses are shared with project partners.

For more information: Sponsors

For more information: Project Partners

For more information: Organizations

For more information: German Club

For more information: Colombian NPO
 

Since Aguayuda’s establishment in 2006, we have installed and repaired windmills, implemented pipelines, installed rain harvesting systems, repaired water storage tanks, built laundry washing stations, maintained a water truck sponsorship program, and created four educational manuals on essential health topics. These accomplishments have provided 7,800 people access to clean water on a daily basis. One of the positive results of these efforts was the construction of 19 new homes, and one of Aguayuda’s water committee members established a nonprofit organization together with 15 additional community members to install, repair, and maintain windmills.
 

Franklin Ojeda, one of the water committee members, along with 15 people from El Pájaro, Colombia, participated in a workshop provided by a local Colombian education institute on the installation and maintenance of windmills. Franklin and 15 El Pájaro residents started their own organization to maintain and install windmills in La Guajira, Colombia. Aguayuda is engaging the services of the El Pájaro Windmill Company for current and potential windmill projects in La Guajira, Colombia. They have the knowledge and understanding of the local culture, customs, and challenges.

Daut Arguelles, an Aguayuda part-time employee and resident of La Guajira, Colombia organizes Aguayuda’s water truck sponsorship program in La Gaujira, Colombia. He is responsible for monitoring and organizing the water truck deliveries for five communities and two schools, which helps give 2,200 people access to clean water every month.

The skills and services provided by Franklin Ojeda, the El Pájaro Windmill Company, and Daut Arguelles are key to potential and completed projects and critical to our success. Aguayuda looks forward to developing talent in future projects.

For more information: Completed Projects

For more information: Water Truck Sponsorships
 

The formation of the El Pájaro Windmill Company is an example of job creation in El Pájaro, Colombia. Aguayuda has contracted the El Pájaro Windmill Company to perform maintenance in Ramonero, Colombia and in Comején, Colombia. Aguayuda plans to contract their services for windmill projects in La Guajira, Colombia in 2012 and beyond.

For more information: Completed Projects
 

Aguayuda developed its own manuals due to the limited availability of high-quality educational manuals for rural communities in developing countries. Aguayuda used various sources for its materials, including the San Francisco-based Hesperian Foundation and the Pan-American Health Organization.

What makes our manuals unique is the use of two different kinds of manuals: one for teachers and the other for students. The manual for teachers consists of lesson plans with exercises and games. The manual for students consists of illustrations and minimal text. Many of the target communities have a very low level of education, and community members often cannot read or write. To address this shortcoming, Aguayuda prepared its manuals in a format that presents the most integral concepts in a way that is easy to comprehend at all levels of education.

In late 2012, the current four educational manuals will have a new design and updated information where applicable. Depending on feedback and new ideas for instructional exercises and content, we will update our manuals accordingly.

For more information: Education
 

Aguayuda relies on the generosity of donors. Depending on the project, expenses are shared with project partners.

For more information: Sponsors
 
For more information: Project Partners
 
For more information: Organizations
 
For more information: German Club
 
For more information: Colombian NPO
 

As of May 12, 2012, 220 donors and foundations have contributed to Aguayuda’s mission, and a total of $220,000 has been raised.
 

Yes, they are open to the public and can be viewed at: www.guidestar.org
 

The mission of the German club Förderverein Aguayuda is to raise money for Aguayuda. Their valuable and generous support will help Aguayuda provide clean water and education to communities in developing countries.

For more information: German Club
 

The Colombian nonprofit organization Fundacion Aguayuda allows Aguayuda to seek and raise funds in Colombia and provides a tax deduction to individuals and company donors in Colombia:

For more information: Colombian NPO
 

When meeting new potential partner organizations, Aguayuda always has a face-to-face meeting with the organization to get to know them better.

Important criteria include:

• Focus area
• Technical expertise
• Fundraising capability
• Completed projects
• Communication skills