As many of you already know, we have been raising funds to purchase portable water filters to help remote Indonesians gain access to clean drinking water. What started out as a few friends donating money to purchase and deliver simple yet effective water filters has grown into an awesome program. Recently we partnered with Ace Robin, the owner of Medana Bay Marina where we keep our boat, and the current president of Rotary Lombok to help as many families as possible recover from a devastating earthquake that occurred last year. Most are still rebuilding their houses and piles of concrete rubble still line the back streets. We started by recruiting 15 village leaders and showed them how easy and simple the filters were to use, how they could transform dirty water into crystal clear drinking water with little effort, and spend their hard earned Rupiahs on other necessities. After leading a demonstration where each leader learned how to assemble, use, and clean the filters, they each were required to recruit 5 other families to share the filter with. When Ace and I each drank a pint of water that was filtered from the smelly pond out back, joking that if we died in an hour to not believe us or use the filters, they were sold. We thought it wold take several weeks for them to get back to us as follow through is sometimes challenging here in the developing world. We were wrong. In a few days, all had assembled their teams and wanted to know when they could pick up their filters. Late last month, we invited the leaders and their family groups to pick up their filters and begin their clean water revolution. It has been a great success. The word has been spreading between families and villages. Now other family groups are forming and they are actively seeking filters for themselves. Our waitlist is growing. As the cruising rallies came through Lombok, more funds were raised and several more of our friends back in the States have contributed to obtain more filters. We will be purchasing another large round of filters from the States or Australia and need to figure out the best way to get them here. If you know anyone coming to Indonesia, please let me know as shipping is very costly here. A big thank you to all of you that contributed funds to make clean water a reality to the wonderful people of Lombok (and Rote, Timor, Sumatra, and Java). The dream of free, clean water is now happening, village by village. Check out wavesforwater.org for details of the filters and how you can change the world for a family as you travel.