ClearWater Initiative is a non-governmental charitable organization that needs your support

It is our mission to provide clean water to populations affected by natural or man-made humanitarian emergencies. We respond by promoting and funding both established and innovative clean water solutions. Our projects are implemented in partnerships with local Ugandan engineers. Projects are audited to ensure accountability.

Vision and Goals
Within 5 years, ClearWater’s vision is to provide access to potable water to 50,000 people. Within 10 years ClearWater will provide clean water to 250,000 people in need.

We also hope to begin offering seed grants for simple, innovative projects in complex humanitarian emergencies shortly. The purpose of these small grants will be to provide seed funding for relief professionals looking to develop projects that will advance technical aspects of international disaster response, with an emphasis on provision of essential services for refugees and internally displaced populations. Grant applications will come on-line as soon as we have sufficient funds to support the program.

Turntotap would like to honor the founder of ClearWater Initiative, Benjamin A. Sklaver.Benjamin A Sklaver

The family and friends of Benjamin A. Sklaver mourned his death and celebrated his inspirational life during funeral services held Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009 at Congregation Mishkan Israel, in Hamden, Connecticut.

The son of Gary and Laura Sklaver, of Hamden, Army Captain Sklaver was killed Oct. 2, 2009 by a suicide bomber while on foot patrol in the Afghan village of Murcheh, located in Kandahar province in southwestern Afghanistan.

While Ben was just 32 years old, he had already made a tremendous mark in the world. A 1999 graduate of Tufts University, he went on to obtain a graduate degree in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School, also at Tufts. He took a particular interest in assisting refugees and the poor in Africa. During his studies at the Fletcher School, he volunteered for the Army Reserve and following completion of his degree, he served with the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta in that agency’s International Emergency and Refugee Health Branch.

While on active duty with the army in Africa, Ben spent considerable time in northern Uganda, where he was shocked to learn of the chronic health concerns affecting children, pregnant women, and others in the region’s small villages stemming from the lack of clean water. During his deployment in Uganda, he worked to improve access to safe water and upon his return to the U.S. he founded the non-profit charity Clearwater Initiative in order to continue that work. Over the past two years, his efforts had helped provide clean water to several thousand Ugandans, prompting many in the region refer to him as “Moses Ben.”