I stumbled upon something yesterday - another serendipitous occasion. I had not check out Abby Brown's Water for the Ages blog. She had not posted for about four months, so I was quite pleasantly surprised to see this post:
Water for the Ages Gets a Brand New (out)Look
Start: In September 2007, I decided to create a blog to better understand
global water problems with the hope of finding solutions. I built the Water for the Ages blog as a place to compile water-related information and write posts about global water issues. This blog also surprisingly became a place to communicate with other passionate H20 people from around the world.
Reach: Soon after starting it, I enrolled in a graduate program in Water Resources Management to learn more about global issues. I lived and blogged in India for several months while conducting research, and I completed a thesis on empowerment in water and sanitation. India changed me. After coming home, I wondered how one young, white girl from North America could ever make a tangible difference. I didn’t want to be another person with an imperialistic agenda.
Grow: Over the past year, I blogged little while doing a quite a bit. I worked in the renewable energy sector with the hope of learning about the energy-water nexus. I volunteered with an amazing sanitation advocacy group called PHLUSH. I received a scholarship to attend a graduate program in Environmental Sociology at University of California. The most difficult of all, I engaged in self growth.
Learn: I eventually realized that people can solve problems best when they work together, each person has different useful strengths, communication is everything, and it’s important to “be me”. So now I’m in Santa Cruz preparing for my graduate program, and I figured it was a great time to revitalize Water for the Ages. When I signed on, the many comments from inspiring people over the past few months reminded me that I was on the right track.
Ta Da: So I present to you the new-and-improved Water for the Ages blog. I even added a nifty calendar on the upper left which shows you important global water and sanitation events. I imported this information from IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre and UN Water. I can’t promise how regularly I’ll be blogging, but I figured resources here are handy. I’m remembering – it’s the little things that count.
I'm glad that she's 'back', and I know she will do well at UC-Santa Cruz.
Take a look at her latest post, The Case for Pay Toilets (in Portland, Oregon)
She is also on Twitter.
Disclosure notice: Abby Brown was my Master's student at OSU who received her degree about two years ago, She worked on gender and water and sanitation issuesin rural India. You can read her work here: Empowerment and Gender Equality for Water and Sanitation in Rural India: Two Case Studies. This work was hers and hers alone; it wasn't a project of mine that she stepped into as a research assistant.
She's one of the brightest, most motivated, and passionate students I've had in 36 years of advising students. She will be heard from, far more than she already has.
Enjoy!
Investigating. Advocating. Water. Sanitation. - Water for the Ages raison d'être
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