Did you know that more than a third of the entire world's population are living without access to adequate sanitation and over 600 million people are without clean drinking water?! Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) are at the center of the fight against hunger and poverty around the world.
Viva Con Agua (VCA) is an amazing network comprised of people and organizations that have joined together in their commitment to establishing access to fresh drinking water and basic sanitation for all humans around the world. Over the past 12 years, VCA has raised over 5 million Euros on water-based projects which were able to support more than 2 million people gain access to clean drinking water! How impressive is that?!
If that wasn’t cool enough, here are a few more amazing facts about VCA:
- VCA non-profit-organizations span across 7 countries: Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands, Uganda, Rwanda and America
- In Germany alone there is more than 13,000 youth engaged throughout 55 cities- Needless to say, the volunteers are the heart of Viva Con Agua!
- They have some pretty amazing people and organizations supporting them; Electronic-House- DJ and Producer Steve Aoki, Hip-Hop Singer and Producer Pharrell Williams, Hip-Hop Artist and Actor Method Man, Actor Jack Black, Singer-Songwriter Ed Sheeran, Professional Skateboarder Tony Hawk. The current Dalai Lama Tendzin Gyatsho, Folktronic Duo Milky Change, The International Movie Festival Berlin, Formula 1 World Champion of 2016 Nico Rosberg, Deutscher Bundestag - from the German houses of Parliament, Street Artist Obey Giant and Soccer World Champion of 2014 Lukas Podolski - to name a few!!
- VCA sells art inside the football arena of FC Sankt Pauli with more than 20,000 people coming to our yearly 5-days art music and social festival Millerntor Gallery
We could spend hours pouring over each countries project- here’s how to learn more about each water project: Ethiopia, Nepal, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda
Ethnotek teamed up with Viva Con Agua to create a limited-edition collection of artisan Thread fabrics in the village of Kandherai, India. The fabrics commissioned for this collection are used as a training program to educate and employ the next generation of artisan weavers.
This entire collection was woven by twin brothers, Sanjay and Suresh. ETK master weaver, Shamji, trained Sanjay and Suresh to weave his family’s traditional techniques using Ethnotek-specific designs in Viva Con Agua’s brand colors.
Shamji heard that the two brothers were offered jobs at factories outside of their village and offered to match the salary the factories were offering if they were to stay in the village and weave textiles. The two happily obliged! Not only was this an opportunity for guaranteed income, it was a chance to stay at home for work, make their own hours and to carry on their family's cultural tradition of handmade textiles. Gotta love when shared values align!
Sanjay and Suresh have been weaving Ethnotek textiles since 2015 and we’re extremely proud to have them on the team!
Last but not least is the exciting fact that 10% of all proceeds from this collection will be donated to VCA to provide clean drinking water to villages in Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda and Nepal!!!
The collection is limited this time around, and if you don’t have a chance to snag a bag for yourself, you still have the opportunity to donate directly through the homepage on their site which you can find HERE.
I think we can all agree with their wonderful catch phrase: “Water for all - All for water”
