Like Water for Liberia

Saran Kaba Jones believes in the dynamic, prosperous Liberia she left behind as a child when her homeland was on the cusp of war. Twenty years later, she returns with the belief that everyone deserves clean water, at the very least.

Saran Kaba Jones (at right) is the daughter of a professor father, Brahima, and entrepreneurial mother, Fatima, who remembers her childhood in Liberia with a large four-bedroom, two bathroom home as bucolic as it was peaceful. There were fields growing tomatoes, peppers, cassava leaves and potato greens. There was a large yard where she played with her brothers Omar, Abass and Mousa among the chickens and goats that roamed freely.

In 1989, when she was eight, the family left the country where she was born — considered the America of West Africa — just as a ruinous civil war was heating up, which lasted until early 2005. During that time, more than 250,000 people were killed, thousands more fled and even now, her homeland has no running water, no public electricity, an 85 percent unemployment rate and an infrastructure that remains crippled.

Jones returns to Liberia on July 27 to continue her single-minded goal of helping restore the Liberia she knew as a child, and at the very least, to bring the country clean, accessible water — since only a quarter of the population has access. Through the nonprofit she founded in Jan. 2009, Face Africa Jones previously installed a water purification and pump system capable of pumping 20,000 liters a day—enough to serve an entire village of 600 people in Barnesville (with the help of a Davis Project for Peace grant of $10,000).

After her family left Liberia, they went to Ivory Coast, the Middle East where her father was named ambassador, then to France and then Jones came to the US for college where she eventually graduated from Harvard University with a degree in international relations and political science. She wasn't able to return until 2008, three years after the civil war had ended, and what she saw upon her arrival jolted her.

"I was shocked. It was very, very different from what I remembered from growing up as a young child," said Jones. "I had seen reports of damage and devastation caused by the war but what I saw was nothing like what I had in mind. It was a very harsh reality. I got to see that the war had completely destroyed the entire infrastructure. You could see huge holes in roads, buildings, clinics and schools. Everything was destroyed. The level of poverty was incredible. Liberia now has one of the highest unemployment rates — 85 percent. There is no electricity in the entire country — all the infrastructure was damaged — and 90 to 95 percent have no electricity. Those who can afford to have a generator but there is no running water, or sewerage system for that matter."

While she was still a student, she began working as an investment project manager for the Singapore government economic development board and in the years since she graduated from Harvard in 2007, she married Ainsworth Jones, a Jamaican attorney she met while still a student. But she never lost sight of her mother country of Liberia. So this trip to Liberia was taken with vacation time, as she still works her full-time job for the Singapore economic development board, and all the work she does raising money or planning water purification projects, she does after hours and on weekends.

"She’s doing these amazing things and it challenges you to think of others first. She’s unassuming and completely selfless," says Zoe Cooper, a native Liberian and corporate attorney in Providence, R.I. who befriended Jones through a Liberian professional network organization. "Just how she’s made Face Africa her everyday is amazing. I remember her telling me three or four months ago that her mother was yelling at her because she hadn’t been eating right and had lost weight. She was just so busy. It’s very admirable, she works day in and day out. This girl will be up late at night doing FACE Africa work. When she has her mind set on something no one can stop her. She makes giving back look good. She’s doing these great things and she remains herself. She’s not pretending, she's well dressed, very poised and she makes everyone feel at home around her. Her style makes service to others look fabulous — she looks like a runway model but she’s giving back everyday."

The genesis of her first trip back to Liberia in 2008 has been in the works for a while. Even while she was a college student herself, Jones was sending $150 a month to the son of her mother’s friend so that he could continue his high school education because, for the most part, education has to be paid for by families.

"Initially I thought, 'This is great. If I can help one person get an education maybe I can start something on a larger scale, get my family, friends and colleagues involved.' I wanted to do something with education but when I went to Liberia the reality completely changed me," explains Jones. "I decided to shift my focus a little bit when I saw the challenges and needs there. As much as the education system in Liberia needed to be overhauled, there were so many other areas that needed attention — health, clean water and sanitation — and if kids aren’t healthy enough to go to school, it defeats the purpose. It was then that I decided to start an organization and focus on bringing clean water to communities in the country."

She began researching sustainable, simple water purification systems and through a Liberian engineer friend learned of a SkyHydrant developed by Siemens which uses a self-contained, gravity-based membrane and hand pump system to provide clean water at a spigot. In May of 2009, Jones and an undergraduate student from Simmons College, Asia Norton, traveled to Barnesville and the project was completed and functional by her second trip last October.

She is also a master of mustering funds to support her endeavors. In 2009, FACE Africa won a $30,000 a year trust for 30 years from All for Africa by winning more than 54 percent of nearly 100,000 votes that were cast, generated in part by fans on the FACE Africa Facebook page. In March, Jones launched the inaugural FACE Africa Gala, raising $50,000 and the guest list included Liberian Ambassador to the United States M. Nathaniel Barnes, former NBA Star Dikembe Mutombo (at right) and Peter Thum, Founder of Ethos Water and former Vice President at Starbucks. And FACE Africa was one of 200 small charities chosen from 500,000 candidates to receive a share of $2.5 million in the Chase Community Giving Program on Facebook. The program, in its second year, attracted more than 2.5 million Facebook participants who voted and selected the 200 winning charities; FACE Africa will receive $20,000.

Seward Cooper, a fellow Liberian who has a nonprofit One Liberia to promote the restoration of the country, met Jones a year ago. "She reaches out across organizations and that’s definitely a strength. A lot of people have nonprofits and stay within box but she looks at the bigger picture and recognizes that when everything works in concert, she will be better able to fulfill what she’s doing and other people will be able to too. She reaches out constantly and is always trying to see how she can support other people so in the end, everyone is working to one goal of trying to help Liberia in positive manner."

Photos courtesy of FACE Africa.