Bag to the Future - A Clean Water Initiative

Phoenix Hope International is teaming up with Casa Materna (PCI Guatemala) to bring a clean water solution to Llano Grande, a small town in San Gaspar, Huehuetenango. In an effort to support the local economy and provide hope for a better future, you have the opportunity to purchase a handmade bag and provide clean water for a family. The ONIL gravity water filter is simple to maintain and can provide clean water for up to two years on a single filter. There are limited bags available and purchase can be arranged by emailing phxhope@gmail.com. Bags are available for local pick-up in Atlanta & Las Vegas. For more information on the Bags for Water program visit PHI's temporary website at http://tinyurl.com/3vd6rld

Meet Jose

Mom learning how to apply the bag

Jose sporting his first bag

Good News!!! Help for Jose is on the way!

Jose is getting a new bag! 500 of them to be exact. For those of you who don't know, Jose is a little 5 year old boy who had a bit of a rough start to life- he was born with out an anus. Most children in the developing world who are born with this unfortunate condition die in the first few weeks of life. Lucky for him there was a surgeon available to create a little detour so to speak for him. While this was certainly a life saving procedure, his life has been anything but easy. His family can not afford the cost of purchasing colostomy bags ($2-4 a piece!!) for him so instead they wrap his abdomen in a towel. This has created painful sores that he attempts to prevent by not eating! This results in serious under nutrition (last time I checked he weighed 25 lbs) that only serves to delay his wound healing and put him at risk for other illnesses. Not only this, but because they have not been able to find a more hygienic solution to his problem, Jose has been held of school- the biggest opportunity he has for improving his life prospects. Thanks to a generous donation and the help of J. Clonts from Littleton, Colorado help for Jose is on the way. These bags should hold him over for the next year or so but if any of you have some spare change laying around click the donate link on our blog and send it our way. We are working on finding a way to pay for a very complicated reconstructive surgery that will one day allow Jose to know the joy of using more fully his own interior plumbing.

Teaser: PHOENIXHOPE.ORG coming soon!!

After two trips to Guatemala and a year of planning, we are excited to announce that Phoenix Hope International (PHI) is just weeks away from its "official" launch. For those that don't already know, our goal is to work with local leadership, community members, and other non profit organizations to bring comprehensive and sustainable development to the poorest regions of the world- one community at a time. While we realize that this is a very broad goal, we also know that there is no magic bullet for wiping out poverty. That means we must address its root causes by improving local infrastructure, strengthening health resources, supporting economic development, and investing in education. No it wont be easy, but it can be done. We hope you will join us.

The Why and What behind Phoenix Hope International

I don’t understand poverty.

Sure I’ve read hundreds of articles on its numerous antecedents and the so called poverty cycle. I’ve taken dozens of classes dedicated to both the theories and practicalities of diagnosing and intervening in poverty traps. I’m a disciple of liberation medicine and a supporter of sustainable development. I’m convinced that when it comes to foreign aid, community accompaniment is always preferable to colonization/paternalism. I’m a fan of Paul Farmer and Jeffrey Sachs and a skeptic of any global organization dedicated to eradicating poverty with the word “bank” in its name. I’m offended by structural violence. I’m inspired by lofty aspirations with catchy names like Millennial Development Goals. I often find myself wondering about the tipping points and freakonomics of the world we live in and the likelihood of actually recognizing a black swan some day.

I just don’t understand poverty.

I’m not talking about the wearing knock of crocks, eating exclusively off the value menu, or driving used cars type of poverty. I’m not even talking about welfare check cashing poverty. I’m talking about living on less than a dollar a day and twenty-one pound 5 year old children poverty. This type of poverty just shouldn’t be allowed to exist.

Why not? First, the root causes of poverty are well known. Second, the resources and technology to address this level of poverty exist. Third, with few exceptions effective interventions can easily be implemented and supported by individuals with little formal training and education in development work using skills already acquired and used on a daily basis. Finally, because whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, we have an obligation to do something about it.


Phoenix Hope International

Phoenix Hope International is a non profit organization that works in partnership with communities to build local capacity and strengthen families through beneficiary-driven solutions to local health, educational and economic needs. The organization seeks to operate primarily as a facilitator by providing technical guidance and access to knowledge, services, commodities, and financial resources in accordance with community needs.

The purpose of founding Phoenix Hope International was to create an organizational structure that could serve as a social incubator of sorts dedicated to what we are going to call the Seed Theory of community development. We are proposing that focused and effective economic, educational, and health based development, leveraging geo-spatial, cultural and political factors to maximize sustainability and spread, will outperform one size fits all policy and development projects.

The Seed Theory: Basics

The model can be conceptualized/simplified to the following activities:

Preparation/Selection phase = data collection/analysis (know the target population), objective
Plant Seed = intervention (a latrine, stove, etc)
Nurture = education and accompaniment, monitor growth, objective progress
Fruit = results, met objectives
Propagation = community buy in/acceptance, success begets success

You will forgive me if this seems a little juvenile. However, because it appeals to universal themes, this concept lends itself well to application across diverse cultural, educational and social stratum.



The Plan: Highlights

-Targeted community development which focuses on families in greatest need first in a trickle up approach.

-Maternal, child and infant (MCI) malnutrition used as surrogate marker for greatest need.

-Identify, train, support, utilize community health workers

-Outcome centered interventions (specific objectives of programs directly related to Millennial Development Goal (MDG) target measures).

-Award/incentive based participation with explicit monitoring/evaluation mechanisms

-EPI info suite (CDC) to be used as a platform for GIS, data collection, measuring outcomes/progress (think CDC obesity epidemic presentation)

-Graduated development acute-->maintenance--->prevention

-Supplement and enhance existing government/NGO programs (correlation!)

-Encourage/Support local decision making capacity (utililize women organizations where possible)

-Community demonstration projects (target community specific water, environment, and sanitation issues)