GFS4TW CLUB
The Gazelle Foundation Students For The Water Clubs program is a student-led initiative founded on the belief that college and high school students have a vital role to play in expanding awareness and helping to provide critical access to clean water for Burundian people. Student Clubs activate their local communities by educating, advocating, and fundraising to build water systems which leads to access to better health, stronger communities, jobs, education, and most of all: hope.
Get Involved
Ready to effect change and make your voice heard? Find all the tools you need to make a difference in your community. We’ve put together some resources for you and your club to use during your fundraising efforts. It’s got a starter guide for success, pictures, and surprising facts about water and Burundi.
Get Started Today
Step 1: Download the Starter Guide.
Step 2: Complete steps to become a club, they are outlined in the starter guide.
Step 3: Register your club.
Club DETAILS
Step 1: Register your Students For The Water Club Your confirmation email will contain links to create your fundraising page, tips on getting started.
Step 2: Details to come
Step 3: Receive your Club certificate.
About The Gazelle Foundation & Why Water matters
We are excited you are here! Let us know how we can help you make a direct impact on the lives of students and families in Burundi. Our water project costs vary depending on geography and size. On average, projects start at $10,000 and can cost $35,000 or more. Once your club has made your gift, we'll pair it with an appropriate project (or projects).
Where We Work: Burundi
Since our founding, we have focused on bringing clean water, and with it, transformative change, to the people who need it most. Working in a single, small country means it is easy to track the long-term impact of our systems.
Why Water Matters
Clean water is foundational to reversing the cycle of poverty. In Burundi, one of the poorest countries in the world, waterborne illnesses are the leading cause of death and the majority of the population live in rural, mountainous areas that are difficult to access.
How We Do It
Clean water is foundational to community health and economic growth. But the systems must work long-term to provide lasting change. Our systems employ a low-tech, sustainable approach to water system constructions that is simple but effective, both in the short term and the long run.
Our Impact
Transparency is very important to us, and we want you to see in detail the outsized impact that your dollars have to real people in need.
Our story began long before our official formation in 2006
It started on October 21, 1993 with Gilbert Tuhabonye, a Burundi survivor of the Hutu/Tutsi civil upheaval of the 1980’s and 90’s. Gilbert was a national champion runner as an 11th grader, but on this day, he would literally run for his life. When the centuries-old war between the Tutsi and Hutu tribes erupted, some of Gilbert’s Hutu classmates, parents, teachers and other Hutu tribesmen forced more than a hundred Tutsi children and teachers into a room where they beat and burned them to death. Gilbert, on fire, ran to freedom, and survived this horrific event.
In 2006, Gilbert wrote This Voice in My Heart, an autobiographical account of his upbringing and his tale of survival. The response to this touching book was overwhelming, creating an outpouring of people who wanted to help. The solution is through the Gazelle Foundation where Gilbert, our dynamic board of directors, and hundreds of volunteers work tirelessly to bring awareness to the needs of the Burundian people while educating our local communities about the importance of the global water crisis and the need for humanitarian aid in Burundi. And the story continues to this day. We are excited you are here! Let us know how we can help you make a direct impact on the lives of students and families in Burundi.
Contact: info@gazellefoundation.org