H2O filters bound for Tanzania stalled

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - The Tanzanian government is blocking a West Michigan-based nonprofit organization that raised thousands of dollars to install clean water filters abroad. It's trying to enforce a newly-created 55% tax on the filters.

"These children travel up to 20 miles one way to go fetch water for their families. Not only do they have to travel such long distances, the water becomes so contaminated that most of them get so sick and a lot of the children are dying because they get diarrhea and it turns into dehydration," Kimberly Fogg, co-founder of Global Sustainable Partnerships, told 24 Hour News 8 via Skype from Tanzania.

In 2011, Fogg and her business partner raised enough money to install 30 filters in 10 schools in Tanzania. It brought clean water to more than 8,000 children, they said. After, they went back to the United States to raise more.

In June, the organization had raised enough money to buy 150 water filters, the cost of which ranges from $240 to $300. The money to purchase the filters made by Cascade Engineering was donated by many West Michigan people.

In the most recent trip, the US Navy assisted in the transport of filters from Michigan to Africa. But as they awaited importation into Tanzania, the process hit a snag.

The government announced it had enacted a new tax for all commercial goods, donated or not, on July 1. The new tax would charge Global Sustainable Partnerships (GSP) nearly $600 to bring the filters into Tanzania.

The company also has to train teachers to use the filters, buy sand for the maintenance and install them. The co-founders have already dumped their personal savings into the project.

Fogg told 24 Hour News 8 she has called on the district and regional commissioner in the area. She has also been in contact with high-ranking officials in the US Navy and Army. The US Embassy in Tanzania and the State Department are making attempts to persuade parliament to repeal the law.

The Tanzanian Vice President's office has promised to write a letter to the tax commissioner asking for tax exemption for these filters, Fogg said.

"GSP cannot use donated money to pay for taxes because that's just going in somebody's pocket," she said. "I'm not going to start that because we have 3,600 more filters to bring in here for these kids."

"So many people are just depending on us to do this great work. I feel like I can't let them down," she added.

In addition to individual donors, many West Michigan businesses held benefits for the non-profit organization. Bar Divani, Beltline Bar and The Meanwhile all contributed to the cause.

Bar Divani's owner, Dennis Moosbrugger, is disappointed to see West Michigan money tied up in politics.

"But if anybody can sort through it, it will be Kim because she's very resilient and she's very determined," he said. "She'll make it work, regardless, if she has to go through the President of Tanzania and shake their cage a little bit."

"The reason we get so much joy out of it is that when you see the expression on the faces of these children who do not have access to clean water, and they finally get clean water, it's just amazing," Fogg said.

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