Jewel starts African water project

Their first venture is to help provide water to the village of Pel in Dogon, Mali. The Dogon civilization is one of the most ancient in Africa.

Jewel is teaming with the Voss Foundation and Virgin Unite in the effort.

"I'm very excited that Project Clean Water has formed a partnership with the Voss Foundation and Virgin Unite to help people in need," said Jewel. "When I was homeless, I became ill and couldn't afford to buy the bottled water I needed for my sick kidneys. I realized then that it was hard to get clean drinking water in the U.S. and discovered it was a huge problem globally."

"Virgin Unite has had the pleasure of working with Jewel for a number of years," said Jean Oelwang, Virgin Unite CEO "We've been impressed by her long commitment to getting clean water to communities all over the world and are excited about this wonderful partnership with the Voss Foundation. Virgin Unite will be working with both partners and the communities to look at entrepreneurial approaches to scale solutions to deliver the basic human right of clean water."

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The project in Pel, Mali will rehabilitate five boreholes, transforming them into modern, efficient, secure hygienic wells. Training sessions will be held for the entire village on the techniques of hygiene, treatment of water, and maintenance and management of wells. In addition, a management committee will take responsibility for each well and a local study will be conducted to ensure responsible water use and sustainability.