Hippo Water Roller: This Wheelbarrow is Not a Wheelbarrow

The Hippo Water Roller looks like a wheelbarrow, but is actually a revolutionary new way to improve the lives of millions who have trouble accessing clean drinking water, by making water-collection in tough rural conditions extremely easy.

In the video below, you can see how simple the design is and might be thinking “Why hasn’t someone done this before?”

Well, people probably have done quite similar designs. And the Hippo Roller has been around for 25 years.

What constantly amazes me about problems like clean drinking water, famine, even war and violence is how often people involved can’t see what looks obvious from the outside.

I am reminded of how I miss the obvious or find things I don’t too, and how the answer to many of the world’s largest problems is to get a simple idea shared with everyone involved.

The Hippo Water Roller is a successful product and yet so few know about it. I think we can do something about that.

Watch a video about Hippo Water Roller here

Life Before the Hippo Water Roller

I used to be a die hard “get a job” self-reliant, short sighted ignoramus. I had learned that taking responsibility for my life, taking advantage of what I could and working hard would bring me success and happiness. I never went for anything unethical, but I knew that my compassion was taking a back seat to getting things done.

I was so wrong.

Once I had a family, matured a bit and really looked at what’s important, I knew it wasn’t money or things. Helping someone who could not help themselves became my bliss. Serving everyone I could became my mission. Teaching simple truths wherever I can.

This changed the way I look at everything and made life a lot more fun in the process.

So when I heard a story about girls the age of my daughters, carrying water for hours every day, a picture of my girls with their backpacks of school textbooks morphed into bright intelligence young woman like my daughters  wasting their lives  (Someone soon pointed out that carrying water is service and I’ve stopped using the word “wasting”).

I became obsessed by the calculation of how much human potential could be unleashed by easing that burden.

I’ve since helped write Billions Rising: Empowering Self-Reliance with Anita Casalina and Heather Vale. We researched positive programs that give a hand up rather than a hand out and found that most people in the 2.7 billion living on under $2.00 per day are not asking for handouts. They want to be self-reliant.

Some critically need food and water for today. Most spend their days working to get the basics for others. When they learn a better way, they embrace it and take responsibility,  then share what they know with others.

Turns out. Sharing and caring brings happiness in any economic situation. Pride in being self-reliance grows to leadership and better lives everywhere.

What the Hippo Water Roller Teach Us

The Hippo Water Roller is a great example of the principles we shared in Billions Rising.

A simple idea can change the lives of millions
A person who once worked hard all day can now do much more good in less hours
The time saved allow for education and other compounding return on the investment
We can make a difference by sharing an idea.
Beyond the many thousands we reached with the Billions Rising book and radio show (and now more through the Billions Rising Foundation), I’ve continued to hit the share button on hundreds of videos, posts, tweets and people and shared posts like this as often as possible.

My Hippo Water Roller Promotion

I’m writing this after click one button a few days ago to re-share this video. Over 150 people had commented or tagged that post and it stood out as popular. So I went to YouTube, saw that 359,082 people had viewed the video (other videos of the Hippo Water Roller have millions of views).

That’s pretty good, but I think we can do more.

I’m going to share this post wherever I can. Each person who comes to the post will add at least one view and hopefully they will share it, or write their own post about the video. Comments here will boost the post and get some exposure for the fine people who write comments. Then I’ll find each person who comments and thank them publicly with a comment, tweet or share.

Helping each other, we’ll help the Hippo Water Roller and make the world a better place. It’s the least I can do for my daughters and girls like them.

Written by Warren Whitlock 
Source: Daily Warren

Media

Taxonomy

• Water Access
• Technology
• Water Supply
• Equipment
• Community Supply
• Solutions
• Rural Area Water Supply
• Drinking Water
• Water Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH)

3 Comments

1. Darren  this is just  simple but amazing technology . This shall surely go far in ensuring adequate water supply at households and reduce the time that has to be spent in fetching water. Furthermore, I imagine how many children and women are going to be spared from musculoskeletal problems by this problems very amazing. Hopefully, one will bring to my country we help some women and children here. Great work!!!

   1 Comment reply

   1. Thanks for your comment Seminar Ptiso ... what you say is absolutely right. Not only does the Hippo Roller alleviate the health issues associated with carrying heavy buckets of water the traditional way, but in being able to fetch up to 5 times more water in a single trip, women and children will have more time available to do other essential tasks ... you have touched on two of the most important aspects of its impact, health and time! If there are any NGOs or organisations in your country with whom we can communicate, please put me in touch with them, and let's see what we can do to help!

2. Hi Marina Vasiljevic ... thank you for your comments on the Hippo Roller. It has been an extraordinary journey over the last 25 years, but as always the problem is much, much bigger than we alone can address. The simplicity of Hippo Roller, and its immediate value ... really does change the lives of those most impacted by the daily chore of collecting water, women and children. There is absolutely no doubt in our minds, that the Hippo Roller can and does make the world a better place ... buying time for education, health, food security and social cohesion far beyond its cost.
   
   We would be delighted to work with anyone intent on helping get Hippo Rollers into the hands of those who need them. 
   
   Thank you so much for your "shout out" ...

3. Thank you Mr Gibbs for bringing to us this article. It is really strange why this was not invented earlier. I always  feel guilty when read about how many hours women and children spent in carrying water to their home for basic needs.

   I have checked the web site and this Hippo Water Roller could make the world a better place. Perhaps some of the companies promoting here at The Water Network could give small donation through Billions Rising donation or any other institution for procurement of this equipment.