Founders
Corner
Thank you for stopping in and spending a little time where I reflect on our life experiences. I am just an ordinary guy surrounded and encouraged by a terrific girlfriend turned into the mother and grandma of our two kids and eight grandchildren. We have been together for over 50 years.
Over a 22 year period, we have lived in three foreign countries, worked in another six, and visited over forty. We have had the privilege of being in the real estate business for over 15 years and then founding an international water filter business.
Lived in
foreign countries
Worked in
foreign countries
Visited over
foreign countries
My claim to fame is that I really enjoy long distance hiking having hiked the Camino (502 miles in 31 days) and the Appalachian Trail (2,172 miles in 181 days).
Now I am working on the North Country Trail, 4,200 miles.
It is the relationship with the giver of life that our journey has purpose and meaning. Those of you that we know have also added a deepness and richness to our lives for which we are forever grateful.
Being Thankful for Generosity
Our water filter enterprise is always in need of additional finances. The need is great and never-ending. The generosity of people and the long days and hard work of our on-the-ground partners continue to inspire us. What is not so common is to be inspired by...
Connections and Saying Goodbye
I could tell so many stories of saying permanent goodbyes and truly expecting to never see that person again, yet here are a few that we did end up seeing again. Back in the day…It was 1979. Jan and I had been in Nigeria for ten years. We were moving to Liberia to...
Living Simple is not Simple!
This post is a reflection from Lou Haveman co-founder of Connect For Water, Lou hiked the Appalachian Trail raising money for life-enhancing products for those who live in the developing world. This is one of Lou's reflections from the 2,172 mile through hike of the...
Priority of my life – hiking
One priority of my life is hiking. I have completed several long distance hikes including The Appalachian Trail-2,0127, The Camino-502, and now the North Country Trail-4,600 miles. In 2007 I had spinal stenosis which caused severe pain and aching in the calves and...
Rwanda Diary – February twelfth – fifteenth
Wednesday, February twelfth. We meet first thing in the morning with our staff. It is like being the director of an orchestra. The guys we have are young, eager, tireless, enthusiastic, and for the most part, exciting work with. Having a good staff was one of my big...
Rwanda Diary – February tenth – eleventh
Monday, February tenth. Daily I try to get into the field and participate in the distributions but it never happens. There is too much organizational stuff to coordinate. Every day or so we hear of atrocities. This is a scary place. We learned two small vans, each...
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Rwanda Diary – February sixth – ninth
Thursday, February sixth. Jim rapped on my door at 6:00 A.M. We had to be at the Bujumbura International Airport by 6:45 to catch the World Food Program plane to Ngosi. We were 30 minutes early and the airport was totally vacant. Up to four months ago, the airport was...
Rwanda Diary – February fifth
Wednesday, February fifth. It was quiet when I got up. I stood for a moment outside looking over the beautiful landscape: scattered homes surround by banana trees, a cultivated lowland filled with beans and cabbage, flowering poinsettias in the yard, lush green...
Rwanda Diary – February first – fourth
Saturday, February one. Ten o’clock on Saturday morning at Kigali International Airport we discovered there are four flights scheduled for the day. Not exactly O’Hare International. Kenya Airways office was closed. Rwanda Airways was closed. We found someone who...
Rwanda Diary – January twenty eighth – thirty first
Tuesday, January twenty eighth Spent the whole day in Kigali running after seed corn, vegetable seed, arranging transportation, getting the phone to work and purchasing a new printing cartridge for 60,000 Rwandan Frances, about $60.00. Here is how the 160 # of...
Rwanda Diary – January twenty fifth – twenty seventh
Saturday, January twenty fifth. This was a day I wanted to stick around home and get a bunch of things done. Not to be. I had to run to Kigali again trying to nail down trucking for 49.6 ton of maize see. The phone is out and not to be repaired until Monday, if then....
Rwanda Diary – January twenty fourth
Friday, January twenty fourth. Every day is a challenge. We are working on getting seed. I spent well over $300,000 today buying bean, maize, vegetable, soya bean, and sorghum seed. We are importing 200 ton from Uganda, buying a lot locally, and as much as we can from...
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