Our Community
A Message From Blood:Water On Our Beliefs & Actions
Throughout our time supporting African led organizations, we have observed and experienced destructive stigma associated with disease and poverty, and we fight against the diminishing and demoralizing power of false characterizations and quick judgements based in fear. It is with grave moral seriousness that we condemn the acts of racism taking place not only in the United States, but also in many other parts of our world.
Today’s Heroes Create Everyday Miracles
Heroes can be teachers, mailmen, parents, or a public figure you’ve never even met. Today in the US, we have thousands of health care workers serving tirelessly to contain the COVID-19 crisis in our overstuffed hospitals. Volunteers are stepping outside of their comfort zones to make sure that people without the funds for groceries can receive food to sustain their families. Our partners know these problems well, but with this new global development, they also face the possibility of seeing an immense health crisis.
Take a Moment to Reflect
“When I Consider How My Light Is Spent”
By John Milton
When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide;
“Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?”
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
And post o’er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.
We Need YOU this #GivingTuesdayNow
In support of our partners fighting coronavirus in their communities, we are announcing our Frontline Funds campaign to help equip and empower our partners on the ground in Africa as they face this new health crisis in the vulnerable communities they serve. The outbreak is intensifying in many African nations, and experts predict the worst is yet to come for the continent. Blood:Water exists for moments like this. And you have a vital role to play.
“CHANGE” – An Original Poem by Dan Haseltine
We will feel the urge to grasp for all that is slipping around us. Our hands will reach and our arms will contort to catch what falls. Our eyes will blink and blur from the spray of dust born of a million pieces of an old concrete life falling to the new earth that shifts around us and below us, sticking to our eyelashes.
Exciting Developments from the East Africa Philanthropy Conference
Aside from being able to provide our own insight to other organizations, we look forward to learning more about the region and pursuing the connections we made through the conference. We have been formally invited to be a member of the Africa Philanthropy Network (APN), which will expand our accessibility to other philanthropic organizations into the Southern African region.
Dying to Live
The physiological description of the brutal death of Jesus has always challenged me. There is something about John’s telling of Jesus’ crucifixion that felt connected to the work of helping people gain access to clean water in communities where a virus found in the blood stream was doing it’s best to destroy the immune systems of it’s targets.
The Superhero You’ve Never Heard of – Dr. Deborah Birx
For her contributions to the field of HIV/AIDS research, Blood:Water awarded her the William H. Frist Award at our Red Tie Gala in 2015, and honored her in our office, and we are proud to have a connection to such an influential figure in the field of global health.
Poems for Lent
We hope that you have enjoyed this season of remembrance and thought during these 40 Days of Water! As we live into this Lenten season, we’d like to share a few poems that have stirred our hearts…
