A lofty idea, a concrete movement, delivered by a storm of rain
Save the Rain began in 2005 with one tank, one family and one idea. Harvesting the rain has become a movement and is stopping the needless deaths caused by the global water crisis. Having access to consistent clean water is breaking the cycle of gender inequality. Girls no longer need to spend their days searching for water. It also alleviates poverty, transforms gender equity, improves education and health, and creates possibilities for women. Thousands of tanks, hundreds of thousands of people and still the same idea.
The solution is falling from the sky. All we have to do is help people catch it.
WE DON’T DRILL DOWN—WE LOOK UP.
Instead of drilling wells, we construct rainwater harvesting systems and sustainable gardens. By doing so, we create consistent access to clean water and food security for communities right at their doorsteps. With no dependency on electricity, pumping or western additives, our rainwater collection systems are engineered to US standards and built to stand the test of time.
Many other water organizations benchmark three years of functionality as a success. We see that as a failure. Everything we make can be repaired, and nothing is disposable. Since 2006, every tank has consistently functioned successfully.
OUR FOUNDATION IS MADE OF WATER
Our first project started when Joseph Nyarianga, a farmer and mason, asked for a rainwater collection system. His family knew hunger and sickness too frequently. His wife and daughter knew the threat of violence awaiting them during their search for water. We built the first tank together. Joseph knew this could change his village and asked if we could help him pay it forward. Our first project was a small system at his children’s school.
Joseph is now the director of Save the Rain in Tanzania, and it is under his wing that hundreds of his fellow Tanzanians bring water and food security to communities.
THE FORCE THAT DRIVES US
The hands that build our systems are the lives that depend on them. We hire people who have received the help so that they can offer that same help to others. Our team is comprised of innovative people who lack formal education but generate unlimited change and hope every day. Our 200 field staff in Africa inspire their communities to rise to self-determination, self-governance, and self-sufficiency.
TRANSPARENT AS CLEAN WATER
We revisit and review every rainwater project and test water four times a year. Our relationships with local suppliers and community officials make this work even more successful. Our success lies in our committed partnerships, which provide financial support and the social capital to inspire new people to join our mission. Our corporate partners cover all administrative expenses, even credit card fees, so 100% of public donations fund projects.
OUR SUSTAINABILITY
Our rainwater tanks require no electricity, pumping or western additives for filtration. Our infrastructure is dependent upon needs assessment, problem identification, material supplies and community partnerships. Every field team member started as a tank recipient—this fuels connection and creates a consistent organizational presence in every community we serve.
By training recipients to become builders, scaling projects is simple and effective. The outcome is that having access to clean water at home will one day be commonplace, and the trials of walking for water will be a distant memory. Due to this concept, our sustainability and community members pave the path to that freedom.
OUR 2023 YEAR IN REVIEW
MEET THE TEAM
‘Family built by sweat, labor and love’
The women of the King'ori Group choose laborers from each village to assist them to build rainwater harvesting systems to bring clean water to new communities.
‘My Mother’s My Hero’
If the walk for water takes you away from your kids up to ten hours a day, clean water at home lets you be the mother you want to be.
CELEBRATING FATHERHOOD
For these fathers, Save the Rain is more than a job. They see all Tanzanian children as their own and work tirelessly to provide opportunities for them.
CONTACT SAVE THE RAIN
SAVE THE RAIN
P.O. Box 1510
Mount Shasta, California, 96067
Email: info@savetherain.org