International Designer Anita Quansah Joins Movement to Bring Clean Water to Tanzania

Jewelry and Fashion Designer to Create Gown from Thousands of Students' Handmade Paper Beads

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Apr 02, 2014, 04:00 ET

SEATTLE, April 2, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- London-based African designer Anita Quansah will join the Students Rebuild Water Challenge by creating—and donating for auction—a one-of-a-kind gown and collar. The Students Rebuild Water Challenge, in partnership with charity: water and Global Nomads Group, will bring clean, safe drinking water to more than 16,000 Tanzanians.

International fashion designer Anita Quansah is actively supporting the Students Rebuild Water Challenge. (PRNewsFoto/Students Rebuild) (PRNewsFoto/STUDENTS REBUILD)

The Students Rebuild Water Challenge asks students worldwide to make and mail in paper beads. Every 20 handmade beads will provide access to clean water for one person because the Bezos Family Foundation—through its Students Rebuild program—will match beads with up to $500,000 in funding for 41 charity: water projects for Tanzanian schools and communities. Water projects include rainwater harvesting, new wells, repair and updating of non-functioning wells and maintenance.

To date, more than 400 teams from 45 states in the United States and 21 countries have joined the Students Rebuild Water Challenge. Countries signing up include Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Canada, China, the Dominican Republic, Greece, India, Iran, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, the United States and Uruguay.

Quansah, whose background is Nigerian, Ghanaian and British, will create and donate a dramatic gown and collar using handmade paper beads mailed in by May 16, 2014. The Water Challenge uses the symbol of a bead because they have been used as adornment, communication and currency in Africa for thousands of years. Details of how to participate in the Students Rebuild Water Challenge—including how to make paper beads—are available at http://studentsrebuild.org.

Quansah's pieces are both conversational statements and works of wearable art which have gained international recognition. She has created unique handmade embroidered textile pieces for some of the leading textile and fashion design houses: DKNY, Diane Von Furstenberg, Ischiko, Calvin Klein, Weisbrod Zurrer and Sandy Starkman. She has also collaborated with fashion designer Christian Lacroix, designing and embroidering pieces featured on the runway for his haute couture show in Paris.

About the Partners:

Anita Quansah	Bespoke jewellery curator Anita Quansah founded Anita Quansah London, in 2006. Presently, she's designing a range of bespoke embroidered pieces for Ballin Shoes in Italy for use in footwear and accessories and running a design enrichment program at schools for young girls and adults. Learn more at www.anitaquansahlondon.com.

Students Rebuild	Students Rebuild is a collaborative program of the Bezos Family Foundation. The Students Rebuild mission is to inspire young people to connect, learn and take collective action on critical global issues. Learn more at http://studentsrebuild.org #SRWaterChallenge

charity: water	charity: water is a non-profit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations. We use 100% of public donations to directly fund sustainable water solutions in areas of greatest need. Almost 800 million people in the world live without clean water. That's one in nine of us. Our goal is to end the water crisis in our lifetime by ensuring that every person on the planet has access to life's most basic need. In our first six years, charity: water has funded 8,661 water projects in 20 countries to serve more than 3.3 million people with clean, safe drinking water. Learn more: http://www.charitywater.org/

Global Nomads Group	Global Nomads Group (GNG) is an international NGO whose mission is to foster intercultural dialogue and understanding among the world's youth. GNG engages and empowers young people worldwide using media, including: live-interactive videoconferencing, webcasts, social networking, gaming, and participatory filmmaking. Founded in 1998, the organization has conducted virtual exchange programs in more than 50 countries on all seven continents, reaching more than one million young people. Learn more: http://gng.org.