Ripples for Good - Update Episode: 30 August 2010

Simon: Last month we briefly reported on the Nelson Mandela Foundation Celebrity Bike ride which included Jeremy and Jacqui Mansfield and Morgan Freeman.

When the group arrived in Cape Town Jeremy and Jacqui met up with the Ripples for Good team - also on their motorbikes.

Earlier this year we wished the Ripples for Good team a bon voyage before they departed on a short trip as a prelude to their epic adventure. We promised to keep you abreast of their progress and this is a short review of their trip.

With the water situation such as it is, it is good to know that they’re out there. Far off the beaten track, they’re working with water and the communities that it affects which is basically all of us.

After an icy and arduous trip, all four of them arrived safely in Cape Town with only one goal, to get as much as possible done.

Their first stop was Parliament, where they met with Gareth Morgan from the DA to discuss the national water problem. Gareth acknowledges that there were world class reports done about our waterways by independent bodies and that the problems are thoroughly documented. But now it’s time for action and it is the duty of all of us to ensure that action is taken.

Next there was an outing with Garmin, one of the Ripples for Good sponsors to an estuary and they encountered quite interesting litter on their way there.

The fact is that we know very little about the effects of pollution on our oceans. All that we know is that it can’t be good, but still we’re spreading waste and pollution to every corner of the planet.

Then there was a meeting in Franschoek. Jeremy and Jacqui Mansfield were there with Morgan Freeman on the Nelson Mandela Celebrity Bike Ride and they took time out to meet the Ripples for Good team.

Jacqui Mansfield: Have you come across a situation that you’ve already been able to rectify?

Maria Botha – Ripples for Good: We empower the community to rectify it themselves.

Jacqui Mansfield: Even better.

Maria Botha: Once we start spoon-feeding then they start to kick back and let someone else sort the problem out.  Then the problem doesn’t get sorted out. What we do is inspire them to start recycling and get paid for the recycling and also get the CSIR and the Department of Water Affairs working together with the community.

André: With me in the studio tonight I have all four members of the Ripples for Good team. How is your campaign coming along?

Liani Broodryk – Ripples for Good: Fantastic so far!

Maria Botha – Ripples for Good: Yes it’s incredible!

André: I know that you have started anew with your water awareness campaign, so tell me a bit about the process going forward.

Maria Botha: During the World Cup we went through SA quickly over a period of six weeks to get the vibe but our real aim is to include the countries that share rivers with South Africa like Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia in our whole expedition that covered almost 30,000km to make people aware that ordinary people like us are the ones who can begin to apply the solutions instead of staring ourselves blind at all the problems surrounding water. What we are doing is we’re just connecting people as we go along.

André: Tell me a little about the process. How do you bring people together?

Liani Broodryk: It varies from area to area through which we move. Every area has its own problems. We get a lot of information from the CSIR that tells us: These are the statistics, this is the condition of the water and what we need to look at. Now we have all the positive role-players who can resolve those specific problems. We try to put them into contact with the communities.

Then the big thing that we’re working in is looking at the people in the community. There’s a reason the water’s in that condition. What can we do to improve it or to stop it from continuing. Is the problem being resolved and how do we prevent it from happening again?

André: How involved do the community and these organisations become?

Maria Botha: In most cases people only need to be told that their idea is a positive one and then connect them with the CSIR or ‘Healthy Water’ or another role-player is not difficult at all. Then they start believing for the first time that they can make a difference and most of the time that’s all that’s needed. Everybody wants to do something, but they sit with their ideas and think they’re too insignificant to do it themselves.

André: So you’re a link between the good idea and a practical solution, if I can put it that way?

Liani Broodryk: Yes.

André: I take it that two ladies on bikes with two dogs is quite an attraction for people. How does it work when you get to a community, the process of connecting the community with the organisation that want to help?

Liani Broodryk: Most of the time it happens almost spontaneously. Everybody stops and before you know it, somebody has read something about you or knows about you, “You’re the water girls” we get that quite a lot and it’s incredible how people come forward with their water problems or with “You won’t believe this, this or that organisation is solving a big problem, let’s take you there.” So at this stage it’s happening automatically.

André: The database of water organisations, is there financial support for these organisations?

Maria Botha: Communities are really keen to spend their funds within their own community, instead of putting money into a national thing and it disappears into admin costs and other costs but it doesn’t really reach the community’s problem. It’s just the passionate, motivated people who want to make a difference and who do make a difference with the water the guy who stopped us at the entrance of the town and told us he is the biggest chicken farmer and he wants to help. How can he help? Then we send those people and we connect them with each other.

Regarding international funds, there’s a lot of funding. Funding is everywhere, but one feels quite often that when getting to a community that many people are feeling as if they’re knocking on closed doors. It is as if they’ve already decided that they won’t get the money but it is out there. Water is a basic requirement for everybody and it has to be clean.

André: Is there a specific story that you can point to as the highlight of what you’ve achieved so far?

Maria Botha: The biggest success for me on this last trip was the number of people from, say ‘Reclaim Camissa’, the people at Lubisi Dam, the passion and motivation with which those people want to make a difference, is incredible and that will always be the highlight for me.

André: I hope the information and the fresh water will flow in all directions. Good luck and we’ll keep you abreast of what happens.