Water is Life

During the health crisis of COVID-19, the indigenous Wayuu people of Colombia, are facing a tragedy, they are not able to get enough water to survive.

The people of Cabo de la Vela make a living mainly from tourism, selling handicrafts and fishing to provide fresh produce to the hotels and restaurants in the small village.During this world lockdown their livelihood is gone. No tourists sadly means no income.The families cannot pay for the tankers that deliver water to this arid region.With no access to water, such an essential life source, the lives of these communities are threatened.

This concern is even greater than the coronavirus for these isolated tribes...

Who are we ?

Emma and Ompi, a young Franco-Colombian couple, owners of a small kitesurf school, Cabo Kite Center, in the village of Cabo de la Vela.For 2 years we have been living among the indigenous Wayùu tribe. We share the daily life of these people who are sadly forgotten by the Colombian government. Some humanitarian aid has emerged since the start of the COVID 19 quarantine but no project seems to focus on the donation of water which, for us, is absolutely essential! We initially decided to contact customers who have visited our kitesurf center in the past years in order to raise funds for the cause, then we thought of pushing the project further by creating this crowdfunding project to raise your awareness and call upon your generosity.

Our project is straightforward !

Raise funds to finance the distribution of water in the hamlets located around Cabo de la Vela.For those who are not familiar with the area, the village has no irrigation system.Water is supplied by tanker trucks which fill the basins where the water is stored, this is the only drinking water supply used also for washing and cooking...

Some of the poorest get some water by walking long distances to reach natural pools which are also used to water their small goat farms.

However an additional problem is that these pools are dry at this time of the year and the first rains do not fall until November.

Still not convinced?

We have teamed up with entrepreneurial friends from the region to offer you discounts on our catering services, hotels and of course courses and rentals in our kitesurfing center in return for your participation however small.

Donate 20€ and receuve 15% discount in our centers.Just claim your discount by sending us a message!

"Sounds good but where does my money go ?"

There are 7 surrounding communities in total:

Pujuru - Ishotshimana - Atutului - Kousochon - Palerü - Palamana - Aipir

Each community has about 10 families with an average of two 500 litre tanks to stock water per family. The community of Ishotshimana is the biggest with approximately 30 families.

A tanker truck can carry a load of 10,000 liters of water.

We would therefore need a total of 9 tanker trucks to provide a week's supply of water.

Each tanker truck is worth around € 100, which would correspond to a total of at least € 1.000. Hoping to be able to supply these communities at least twice, we have set our target at € 2.000.

If our project is successful, a contribution of 4% will be paid to the Leetchi platform,i.e. € 2.080 to be collected in total.