Friday Friend or Family Feature...

The Friday Friend or Family Feature has been preempted today by the Friday Friend or Family Feat of Fantastic-Ness.. Last night I learned some news.

Apparently, these two petite nieces...

were quite moved by Tuesday's post. They read about the drought in Africa and got very upset.

After making some calls, and crunching some numbers, they decided to take action. They shattered their piggy banks and sent their allowances to Play Pump International. Their generous contribution will help provide clean water and play ground equipment to children in Africa.

Here is a video...



A Merry-Go-Round attached to a water pump... Genius.


"While children have fun spinning on the Play Pump merry-go-round (1), clean water is pumped (2) from underground (3) into a 2,500-liter tank (4), standing seven meters above the ground.
A simple tap (5) makes it easy for adults and children to draw water. Excess water is diverted from the storage tank back down into the bore hole (6).

The water storage tank (7) provides a rare opportunity to advertise in outlaying communities. All four sides of the tank are leased as billboards, with two sides for consumer advertising and the other two sides for health and educational messages. The revenue generated by this unique model pays for pump maintenance.

The design of the Play Pump water system makes it highly effective, easy to operate and very economical, keeping costs and maintenance to an absolute minimum.
Capable of producing up to 1,400 liters of water per hour at 16 rpm from a depth of 40 meters, it is effective up to a depth of 100 meters."



Betsy and Abby know how important it is for a kid to be a kid.


The fact that my nieces did this on my birthday is particularly sweet. I have a sneaky feeling that my brother had something to do with this. Thanks guys. This company is hoping to expand to Ethiopia in the next year.