Andi Gillentine, Vice President of our Board of Directors and Plan Chief Operating Officer at Fidelis Care talks with Amanda and Bret Brummitt of Generous Benefits on their podcast, Generous Impact.
Andi shares how her personal and professional background shapes her commitment to bridging health equity gaps and eradicating waterborne diseases. She explains how she first became involved with the Gazelle Foundation through a transformative encounter with co-founder, Gilbert Tuhabonye, a genocide survivor from Burundi.
“Part of the story he tells about how he became a world-class runner in Burundi is that every morning his job was to run two miles to get water out of the creek and bring it back to his house before he went to school,” she shares. “The quicker he got that done, the quicker he could go play with his friends at school.” Hear more about Gilbert’s story in his own words on an earlier podcast episode.
Learn more about where we work in rural Burundi and how bringing water systems to Burundi transformed lives, and the Foundation’s growing impact.
Andi shares that she began running in the Run For The Water race, the Gazelle Foundation’s signature fundraiser and friend-raiser. The event, which is now in its 18th year, raises awareness about the water crisis in Burundi and invites people to get involved to help. After running and donating to the foundation, she began her “one-woman campaign to join the board…to participate more.”
Andi draws parallels between her work in healthcare and the foundation's mission, highlighting the role of health equity in both areas. She explains how seeing photos and videos from Burundi showing the impact of our work motivates her, especially a video featuring Levis Bizindavyi, Head of Healthcare, at Ruvumuvu Clinic. Bizindvyi has seen a dramatic reduction in waterborne illnesses with the completion of the Gazelle Foundation water system in his clinic. He says, “Now of 100 people examined, only 15 people have diseases caused by dirty water.”
Clean water has made a big impact on health, especially for the littlest ones. “In areas where you don't have clean water, your infant mortality rates tend to be very high because infants can't fight it as well,” she says. Waterborne illnesses can be fatal, which is why access to clean water means that more children will be able to grow up simply by changing this one thing.
“Gilbert really showed me the meaning of forgiveness and the meaning of taking what you have and paying it forward.”
Andi Gillentine shares the impact that bringing clean water systems to Burundi has made over time. Since 2006, 71 water systems have been built, and that number continues to grow. “Clean water is fundamental to public health,” Andi says.
“What we create is a system that will sustain and put clean water inside communities,” she explains. “We have tap stands that we've built that are in the communities, close to the homes, close to the schools.” The Foundation works with local teams, hires locally, and purchases materials, which brings work and economic opportunity to the area.
Clean water also means more education for young girls and women, who do a majority of the water fetching and caregiving. “We have stories of individuals who [share] the access to the water systems meant that they could stay in the school. And so we have children, especially young women, who are now getting access to higher levels of education than they did before,” Andi shares. “And if you look at any of the studies, if you want to raise the economic level of a community, you educate the women and so this is again a way that we are raising and bringing the whole area to a healthier, more sustainable space.”
Tune into the Generous Impact podcast to listen to the entire conversation with Andi Gillentine and her work with the Gazelle Foundation, Run For The Water road race, and health care equity.
Watch a video from Burundi to hear what medical experts say the impact of clean water means to them, and their communities.
How Gazelle Foundation builds clean water systems >>
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