the table of contents 1

at the well

april through june

PHOTO BY TREY HILL PHOTOGRAPHY

2 the water is basic quarterly

let ter from the presidentDear Friends of Sudan,

Some months ago we received an appeal from Celestin Musekura, President of alarm inc , who

was in Southern Darfur at the time. It seems with most organizations getting ejected from Darfur

by the government, the situation in the idp camps was beyond description and the need for water

is great. Being that Celestin is one of the founding visionaries behind Water is Basic, we listened

closely but this project belongs to Sudan — they have to make the call on moving a rig so far away.

So, we immediately contacted the wib team in the South and they decided to send our head-

drilling chief on a fact-finding mission to see the need first hand and to analyze logistics.

Six weeks ago we received a budget for drilling 50 wells in Darfur. This effort requires some

additional equipment and will move one of our rigs a great distance, but it all appears within

reach. At about $7,000 per well, the budget is more than what it costs in the South, but still very

double. Three weeks ago we initiated the first wire transfers to fund the purchase of two used

trucks that will carry the additional materials needed so drilling can begin the first week of April.

The wib team continues to increase with partners all over the country and donations from $1.00

to $25,000 keeping the clean, fresh water of life f lowing. With the increased cost of drilling in

Darfur we will need to increase our monthly cash flow from just about $30,000 per month to

almost $50,000.

We need your help. We need it financially & we need you to help us spread the word. Water is Basic

drills two boreholes per week, every week, in Sudan and every dollar goes directly to saving lives.

In fact, in the South, 6 quarters, a $1.50, provides clean water for one person for 20 years and in

Darfur, it only takes $3.50 to improve someone’s life in unknowable ways.

Will you join us?

There is a lot going on and waterisbasic.org is the best place to see all that is happening. We

update the website regularly with new images, stories and

well reports.

Thank you for being a part of changing Sudan. Darfur, here we come!

steve roese, president of water is basic

p.s. No matter the result of the referendum water is desperately needed in Darfur and will

continue to be needed.

the table of contents 3

board of directors

steve roese President

tommy tucker Board Member

jim holloway Board Member

gregg murry Director of the Board

amy goddard Board Member

table of contents

featured article page 4

well 300

the well list update

page 6

our recent trip to sudan page 10

funding page 8

PHOTOS BY TREY HILL PHOTOGRAPHY

4 the water is basic quarterlyc

It’s march 30, 2011 in northwestern

sudan and the eight men known as Water

Is Basic Team B kick clods from their muddy

boots. They’re tidying up the work site —

stacking pipe, cleaning gear, securing tools in

the truck for a bumpy ride to the next location.

And they’re smiling.

They have worked together for three years,

braving rainy seasons, rig repairs, stuck

vehicles, long trips away from home, threats

from animal attack, threats from people, and

even an arrest. All that to arrive at this place.

Akoite Payam on the Darfur border. Another

camp. Another swarm of grateful people.

Another muddy mess to clean up. This one is

like all the rest save for its number. 300.

As their caravan lurches away from the work

site in the evening dusk, they all know where

they’re headed — a day’s drive toward Abyei

where the team leader can get reception for

his cell phone and report that Water Is Basic

well #300 is working. More than half a million

Sudanese have access to clean water now who

didn’t have before. It’s a remarkable milestone

even among a seeming torrent of milestones

flowing out of Sudan these days. An end to

decades of war, a historic vote, a new nation,

a global humanitarian effort, a million newly

displaced persons with rising hopes of having

a home. According to Water Is Basic President

Steve Roese, that hope is what these teams are

really drilling for. “These are truly desperate

people,” Roese said. “I’ve seen some of them

just sleeping under trees. They don’t even

have enough to make a hut.” So progress is

not just measured in boreholes but in health,

education and souls. The villages receiving

well number 300 Published in Chatter Magazine, June 2011

new wells have been transformed by those

wells. Children can attend school instead of

spending hours fetching water. Neighboring

tribes live in relative peace instead of fighting

over springs. There is less disease and better

hygiene. Meanwhile, since drilling began, every

member of the Water Is Basic teams has trusted

Christ and been baptized in water from wells

they drilled.

This year the crews are again outpacing past

performance.“We’re just getting better at it,

more efficient,” Roese said. “And the soils are

different where we are now, not as rocky. Plus,

the crews have been away from their families

for a long time now. I think the longer they’re

gone, the faster they work.” Still, drilling wells

in the African bush is never without challenges.

That softer clay-like soil in the North has

caused problems with a mud pump. Travel is

difficult and often interrupted by people or

nature. And once, Team A was mistaken for

spies and arrested. “They were getting ready

to drill and getting out all this equipment,”

Roese said. “Some South Sudan police thought

it looked suspicious and arrested them, but it

wasn’t long or abusive. They let them go as soon

as they understood what they

were doing.”

For all its success (300 professionally drilled

wells at an average cost of $3,470 is admirable

among agencies who provide similar services),

Roese said the future of Water Is Basic isn’t just

in drilling faster and staying out of jail. “I think

the goal has always been for this to be self-

sustaining,” he said. “I feel the need to see this

all the way through until the work inside Sudan

is getting all of its funds from inside

the country.”

“Dirty water brings a lot of bad stuff — disease,

sickness, death. If you stop those things, you

can start to dream again.” It takes trained eyes

to spot those dreams. Hope in Sudan isn’t rising

with political placards or stock indexes. It’s

measured in corrugated metal. “In the six years

since they’ve had the peace treaty, I’ve seen

differences every time I f ly in,” he said. “There

used to not be any metal roofs on anything.

Now most buildings have it. Why? Because if

you’re expecting to f lee for your life, you don’t

invest in anything you can’t take with you.”

this one is like all the

rest save for its number.

300.well 300 5

PHOTO BY TREY HILL PHOTOGRAPHY

6 the water is basic quarterly

new wells in sudanVisit www.waterisbasic .com/wells for exact GPS locations and follow us @waterisbasic for quick updates on the new wells in Sudan and Africa .

Teams A B

location: ganji payam icost: $3964dig time: 4 days

location: komoyi boma icost: $3868dig time: 4 days

the well list update 7

well informationlocation: payawa community iicost: $2716dig time: 6 days

location: rumbel payam icost: $4002dig time: 3 days

location: longaju boma i cost: $3814.8dig time: 3 days

location: achen maccost: $4049dig time: 3 days

location: abua bomacost: $3757dig time: 3 days

location: mabirom boma iicost: $4061dig time: 3 days

location: apui boma icost: $3997.2dig time: 3 days

location: mayomagot boma iicost: $3964dig time: 3 days

location: malek alek secondary schoolcost: $2624dig time: 5 days

location: dumo co-opcost: $3997.2dig time: 6 days

location: dok boma icost: $3923.2dig time: 3 days

location: kololo primary schoolcost: $3772dig time: 5 days

location: amom payam iicost: $4012dig time: 3 days

location: mizalo boma iicost: $3967dig time: 4 days

location: rianymankuck bomacost: $4009.12dig time: 3 days

location: tali payam icost: $3854.8dig time: 3 days

location: rorayi payam iicost: $4008dig time: 3 days

location: aweil north boma ii cost: $2716dig time: 6 days

location: mangar akotcost: $4103dig time: 3 days

location: wajable boma iicost: $4068dig time: 2 days

location: kanja community icost: $3028dig time: 6 days

location: pantitcost: $4049dig time: 3 days

location: malou payam iicost: $4006dig time: 3 days

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water is basic is maturing and morphing even as the country

changes.

8 the water is basic quarterly

our most recent visit to sudanWritten by Steve Roese

accomplished on this trip:

S Agreement on two year going

forward plan where we hope to

create and provide 100% of wib

funding from within

South Sudan

S Secured Lujulo Springs supplies

from Kampala

S Secured investment funding

in Lujulo

S Are one step away from hiring

the factory and marketing director

S Plan for pilot cell charging

business are in place

S Meetings will take place

tomorrow with Rural Water

Commission on establishing

program to require financial

participation of communities

in establishing wells for other

communities

S Established a base line of $500

per community per well

each year

our recent visit 9

APRIL 4TH, 2011 on board Eagle

Air flight Yei, Republic of South

Sudan to Entebbe, Uganda via

Arua, Uganda. Looking over

the jagged mountains that our water

bottling project is named for.

This visit was short but very

productive. Water is Basic is maturing

and morphing even as the country

changes. I am very proud of that.

wib was set up to serve and help the

local leadership, it’s their vision their

problem their solution…their

new nation.

The establishment of wib as a local

run project with local control was “out

of the box” to begin with. They have

completed 350 wells in three years…

unheard of success!

Now we are looking to do the same as

we establish businesses that build the

nation, provide employment, and fund

wib…unheard of ideas in this “4th

world” nation.

Here is why we are doing this.

Two days ago we visited the people

of itc well completed on 8.21.2009

( go to waterisbasic.org for photos). As

the women and children gathered we

began to hear about how they used to

walk 2 kilometers to gather water from

a small pond. So low was the water in

the dry season that they would wait

hours to fill a Jerry can. The process

of gathering the equivalent of one

flush of an American toilet…was an

all day adventure! They did this every

day, not so they could flush but so

they could survive another day!

This is why you should be very proud

of your investments in wib.

Even as we left the compound to head

to the airport, a crew was heading out

to drill another well. The other rig is

waiting up north for the rainy season

to end. We are partnering with A

Drop In The Bucket to drill 20 wells in

Northern Bahl el Gazal.

We are looking for 250 new partners

to commit to $1,000/ year until we

are internally self funded. Would you

help us find those 250 new partners?

Would you seriously consider being

one yourself?

That’s less than $20.00 per week.

That’s $10.00 per well. That’s a small

investment with a return you won’t

find anywhere else.

Thank you for staying in the game

with us and the wonderful people of

Southern Sudan.

PHOTO BY TREY HILL PHOTOGRAPHY

10 the water is basic quarterly

current budget

differences in budgetsdivision of u.s. budget

division of sudan budget

u.s. operating budgetpersonal

salaries $79,000 expenses $18,000

operational

travel $12,000 internet $360 social media $6,000 marketing $6,000 administrative $3,600 fundrasing $5,000 sudan funds $120,000

total $249,960

sudan operating budgetpersonal

salaries $92,000 expenses $10,000

operational

crises wells $100,000 preferred provider wells $200,00 village partner wells $100,00 marketing $6,000

total $249,960

funding 11

current statistics & goals

Our goal is to produce all of our funding within

the Republic of South Sudan by 2014. Until then

we need your help to keep the rigs working.

Along with our local initiatives to become self

funded, we are asking 250 people to commit to

$1,000 per year through 2013. These funds will

give us a base in which to operate day-to-day,

ensure there is no let up in drilling and give us

the space to work on each of our local

funding initiatives.

Invest in nation building and help us give the

gift of clean water by giving now. 100 percent

of your donation supplies clean drinking water

in Sudan. $1.50 provides clean water for one

person. $100 provides clean water for 67 people.

$5,000 provides clean water for an entire

village and the surrounding community. There

are two ways to support Water is Basic:

ONLINE www.waterisbasic.org

CHECK VIA MAIL

Water is Basic

2435 Kinwest Parkway

Irving, TX, 75063, USA

at the well2435 kinwest parkway irving, tx, 75063, usa

april through june

IRVING BIBLE CHURCHU.S. POSTAGE PAID

IRVING TEXASPERMIT NO. 1204

2012 WATER IS BASIC 5K