Local nonprofit aims to bring clean water to Africa

An organization headquartered in Springfield has its eyes on the well-being of the people of Africa.

With new mobile water-purifying equipment, WorldServe International plans to bring clean drinking water to some of the spots on the globe where it’s needed most. The organization says its mission is to provide clean water, sanitation, education and economic opportunities to alleviate suffering in Africa.

Enter the Galmobile. The Israel-manufactured desalination and purification system purifies fresh water, brackish water and even seawater.

The system is built into all-terrain vehicles – Polaris Rangers, to be precise – that can travel to a water source and produce clean, potable water within 30 minutes, according to John Bongiorno, president of of WorldServe. Each unit costs $100,000, WorldServe officials say, and the nonprofit has two units.

The desalination vehicles are only the latest focus for the organization, which has a $12 million annual budget, according to its 2023 IRS Form 990 filling.

The World Health Organization reports that 785 million people, or 1 in 10 of the world’s population, lack access to basic drinking water services, and 144 million drink untreated surface water to survive. Additionally, UNICEF reports that every day, more than 1,000 children under the age of 5 die from illnesses related to unsafe water.

The Galmobile Ltd. website states the unit’s purification capacity is up to 20,000 liters of seawater or 140,000 liters of fresh water per day. Add-ons can double the seawater purification capacity and increase the freshwater capacity to 420,000 liters daily.

“When you have a disaster and there’s all this flooding, how do you get water to these people? Well, this thing can move around and pull water from rivers and streams and turn it into World Health Organization-standard drinking water,” Bongiorno said.

It uses reverse osmosis and artificial intelligence. Israel is among the world’s desalination leaders, with 85% of its drinking water coming from the Mediterranean Sea and desalinated, according to that country’s national water company, Mekorot. It adds that the country reclaims some 90% of its wastewater.

The Galmobile not only provides clean water, but it also generates power – up to 90 kVA, or kilovolt amperes.

“It’s a large generator that can produce a lot of power, so you can set up your logistics,” Bongiorno said. “You have clean water; you have energy – these are two things that are vital during a disaster.”

Bongiorno said WorldServe has a U.S. workforce of about 15, with about 125 employees overseas. This includes 75 workers in Kenya, where WorldServe has a manufacturing facility for biodegradable and compostable menstrual period products. On every work shift of the factory, Bongiorno said, 27,000 sanitary pads are produced, and more than 41,000 girls in Africa receive monthly period products, as well as menstrual education. The organization also offers a sewing project to produce underwear – something that aims to create both jobs and opportunities in Kenya and beyond, Bongiorno said.

Bongiorno said WorldServe is not a faith-based organization, although it is run by people of faith.

“We like to see our faith demonstrated by the way we treat people,” he said. “It’s one thing to preach, but we want to come alongside people and show them that God cares about them by bringing dignity.”

Menstrual products keep girls – and even teachers – in school, according to Bongiorno.

Bongiorno said an African proverb says it all: “Water is life, but sanitation is dignity.”

Business mindset
Bongiorno started in manufacturing, with a consumer packaging business, Plastek Industries Inc., in Erie, Pennsylvania, the world’s largest manufacturer of deodorant sticks, he said. He grew it to over 2,000 employees, though he said he is no longer part of the business side of the company.

In 1999, Bongiorno began the water program for WorldServe, which was started by a group associated with the Assemblies of God church.

“It had been started by a group out of the Assemblies of God to be able to get people in countries where you couldn’t get a traditional missionary, and so what they wanted was businesses that would allow them to engage and get people in those places,” he said. “When I came on board, it was floundering.”

Bongiorno argued for approaching the work with a business mindset.

“I said, look, businesspeople are looking for sustainable solutions – we want to solve problems,” he said. “We went from a board of mostly ministers and went entirely with business leaders.”

Currently, the board’s chair is Anthony Tolliver, former NBA power forward. Tolliver is also a Springfield native and real estate developer, specializing in multifamily and senior housing.

Among other locals on the board are Jeff Britton, vice president of product design for security device manufacturer Digital Monitoring Products Inc.; Dr. Lesley Hawley, a dermatologist with Ozarks Dermatology Specialists LLC; and Doug Pitt, founder of charitable organization Care to Learn, founder of tech and real estate businesses and goodwill ambassador to the nation of Tanzania.

Sam M. Coryell, president of Coryell Enterprises Inc. and TLC Property Management LLC, is also on the board.

“The mission is what drew me to it,” Coryell said, adding the business approach has made the nonprofit a success. “Like any investment, you’re always looking for ROI. John Bongiorno gets the very most out of every resource that he has.”

Sydney Pitt, who holds a degree in architecture from Drury University and is the daughter of board member Doug Pitt, designed a women’s center that is now under construction in Ethiopia.

“It’s going to help a lot of women and children – it will help with housing, health care, education, community and everything in between,” she said.

Bongiorno said the Ethiopian women’s center will focus on maternal health and job training to empower women. He added that the organization would like to expand its pad manufacturing in Ethiopia, too, in the near future.

“Pads are expensive. If you buy from whatever manufacturer – pick one: Unilever, Procter & Gamble, any of these – this is not cheap, and the product coming in from China was not good product in many places,” he said. “What we are offering is something that really changes and transforms the lives of the schools and the girls that we serve in those girls. It’s a great thing, and we came across it because we started providing water. We always say water leads the way.”

Business creates opportunity
Bongiorno said business creates opportunity in Africa by creating jobs.

“Unemployment is rampant in Africa,” he said. “Businesspeople look for these kinds of solutions – how can we solve the problem at a local level? And that’s really what our programming is all about.”

Bongiorno said on his first trip to Africa, he went to six countries.

“Everywhere we went, we were in the bush areas, remote areas, and I saw women carrying water,” he said. “This is a real problem – people just don’t have access, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.”

Bongiorno directed the purchase of WorldServe’s first water drilling rig shortly after that and put it into operation.

He noted that although WorldServe is associated with the Christian faith, many of those receiving fresh water from that first rig were Muslim.

“We see this everywhere we go. When you go in and you do something to help the people, it breaks down barriers and it brings people together,” he said.