Healing waters Chiapas trip

This past week was a great time to meet and spend time with the Healing Waters International team in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico.  Healing waters is a non-sectarian, international NGO that is dedicated to providing clean water and community service in developing countries.  Their affiliate in Mexico is Aquas De Unidad, A.C. (ADU) located in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas Mexico.  I had the privilege of joining them for a week from July 20 to July 25 to attend their second annual conference and to tour many of their water purification systems located in the Tuxtla area. 

The work of ADU is to reduce sickness and death related to impure water.  They provide automatic purification systems to local churches that are committed to local community outreach.  This is a non-sectarian ministry that cuts across denominational lines and focuses on community service.  The theme of their second annual conference says it best; fiscal, social, and spiritual transformation.

In Tuxtla I met with Ed Anderson, the CEO of Healing Waters International headquartered in Denver, Colorado, and Mario Morales, the Mexico director for ADU.  Healing Waters is currently located in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Guatemala.  They have approximately 30 systems operational in the Dominican Republic, several in Guatemala and 17 operational in Mexico, all in the Tuxtla area with four more planned by the end of 2009.  Their mission and vision is very much in line with that of Morningstar Institute in that they are using a small business model to create local revenue to support community ministry and in the process are creating microenterprise opportunities in these communities.

The organizational model that Healing Waters is using is very similar to a franchise model.  There is a centralized office that sets up the water purification systems, supports these operations with maintenance and supplies, and creates the overall brand identity for the clean water.  In return, the central office receives daily reports on sales and a percentage of the sales to cover its operational costs.  The objective is to make both the central office and the local systems self-sufficient.  This model gives ADU a great opportunity to gain knowledge and ideas from individual operators and then spread that knowledge throughout the system for the benefit of all. 

I was very impressed with the Mexico operation.  At the second annual conference, they had 100% participation of open locations as well as several individuals representing new locations that will be opening later this year.  The conference stressed the most important aspect of their business model; the fiscal, social and spiritual transformation that is the primary purpose for selling water in these communities.  Ed continually stressed that while the sale of the water would bring economic benefits to individuals, the sponsoring church and the community, the most important aspect of their operations is telling others about the water of life that comes through belief in Jesus Christ.  In executing their primary mission, Healing Waters makes the primary consideration in selecting a church to receive one of the water purification systems its outreach to the local community.  

The business model is simple yet very powerful.  Healing Waters raises funds to place a water purification system in a local church.  The cost of the system runs between $15,000-$20,000 for the equipment and installation plus the construction cost that the local church undertakes to build the outlet for sales.  The water is then sold in 19 liter containers, called garrafones, for five pesos.  (The current exchange rate is between 12 to 13 pesos to the dollar.) Competitive prices for the same amount of water are a low of eight pesos to a more typical price of 15 to 16 pesos per garrafon from a local store.  The purification system itself is very well thought out with multiple levels of filters, decontamination and other purification techniques to make sure that the water is totally clean and safe for the customer.  The system operator dresses in a clean uniform with a mask over his or her mouth and is even required to wear rubber boots to prevent tracking contamination into the cleaning and refilling area.  Customers bring in their empty garrafones, the operator will clean the empty garafones and then refill them with clean purified water.  The water is tested daily on a local basis and monthly through a local laboratory.  This means that they can offer an extremely high quality product at a very low price point in some of the poorest areas in the city.

But the real power of the program comes from how the sale proceeds are split between Healing Waters and the church operator.  After all expenses are paid, half of the income goes to Aquas De Unidad to support the systems in Mexico.  The balance goes to the church operator with the requirement that they commit 60% of these funds to local community development activities.  The local church is also required to donate 10% of their water volume for charitable purposes as well.  At the conference it was announced that as of the end of June, over $600,000 had been spent on community activities.  This was $600,000 raised in Mexico for community projects within Mexico!  That is almost double the installation costs of the systems themselves, and this money will continue to flow into the communities in the years to come as well.

This ministry is not only providing clean, healthy, and very low cost water in extremely needy areas, but it is also providing employment in the local economy.  In addition to Mario, ADU employs four additional people (two water engineers, a community relations director and an administrator) plus every system hires one or two people to operate their system and sell the water to customers.  Some of these operators have had their jobs for four or five years.  Because the price of five pesos is so competitive, it has also opened the opportunity for micro businesses to sprout up by individuals purchasing the bottled water at the local system and then delivering it within the neighborhood at a higher price.  We saw this in action in one of the highest volume locations, Oberera, where one man came to the window with 10 empty garafones.  He had a bicycle with a built on carrier that he could carry between 12 to 14 bottles at a time.  He bought water from the Oberera church at five pesos each and charged 10 to 12 pesos for a delivered price.  This was still less expensive than the customer could get at the local store even with home delivery.  He said that he would make 3 to 4 trips per day to the system.  Thus, he delivered approximately 30 to 40 garrafones per day netting him between 150 and 200 pesos per day.  At this volume, he was able to earn more than the system operator per month.  He even had his own T-shirt with the name of his water delivery service on it.  This is the essence of micro-enterprise where an individual sees in economic opportunity and with very little initial capital (in this case the cost of the bicycle and carrier) is able to create a business in which he or she can support themselves.

The purpose of our trip was to investigate and evaluate the possibility of sending Morningstar interns to work in the ADU offices and help them with their business/ministry.  It appears that interns can create real value for Healing Waters and ADU by looking at some of the demographics surrounding the existing water systems as well as working with the existing operators and ADU to create marketing programs that will increase the individual sales volume for each center.  We agreed to continue discussions and work toward the possibility of sending interns to the Tuxtla Gutierrez area next summer and fall.