Our Crowdfunding Groups
Who we are
Working Waters Club is a student advocacy and research group that focuses on water and health related challenges of underserved communities globally. Our organization includes laboratory and field research used to engage communities; raising awareness and educating on water, sanitation and hygiene for people who may not have proper access, quality, or quantity for such. Working Waters primarily focuses its research in the Tshibvumo and Tswinga communities based in the Bantustan territory of northern South Africa and collaborates with student researchers from the University of Venda to address water issues by emphasizing the role of local municipalities to improve related infrastructure.
Working Waters and its partners from the University of Venda use the qualitative research methodology known as photovoice, to analyze several themes in the daily lives of rural households and their needs around water and health. Randomly selected households are tasked to document their daily interactions with water, sanitation, and hygiene, and are later interviewed by our team to further contextualize their documentation. Thematic analysis gives our team the language necessary to communicate the challenges faced within our subject communities, and directly identify them. Some challenges identified by our research are listed below:
In addition to communicating challenges faced by the Tshibvumo and Tswinga communities, our team facilitated discussion with our research participants on potential future transformations needed to resolve these challenges long-term.
Working Waters allows students at Duquesne to be involved in cross-cultural research, gain global knowledge, and cultivate their skills in problem-solving from diversified perspectives and teachings of other students involved in environmental and health sciences. As students at Duquesne who are a part of Working Waters sustain the University’s mission of educational and professional excellence, they also sustain its mission of service. Students work to help communities in need of comprehensive solutions for water infrastructure and improved sanitation and hygiene while gaining opportunities to build academic partnerships, and participate in scientific communications to share knowledge and expand our research’s influence.
Why we need your help!
Donations made help mobilize our team to and within South Africa and help us continue our efforts to help challenged communities. Additionally, donations allow us to provide equipment used to help document the lived experiences of participant households, such as cameras, batteries, and audio recorders.
Get Connected
Please consider donating, or sharing our page with family, friends, colleagues and coworkers, and others interested in patronage. To stay connected with Working Waters, follow our page on Instagram, and join our internal campus link for those working or studying at Duquesne. Thank you!
Questions? Contact Yvonne Weideman, Duquesne University School of Nursing, at weidemany@duq.edu or David Kahler, Duquesne University Center for Environmental Science, at kahlerd@duq.edu.
A donation at this level helps cover materials needed for water testing a rural household’s drinking water.
For our research abroad, members of Working Waters must spend days at a time travelling. A donation of $50 covers a student’s nightly lodging traveling throughout South Africa.
A donation of $200 dollars covers a student’s meal budget for a full month abroad.
For our research abroad, members of Working Waters must spend days at a time travelling inland. A donation of $500 helps cover the milage driven to transport student researchers to our rural research sites.
