Located in some of the world's most beautiful and remote areas, small coastal communities are often marred by poverty and a lack of access to the basic essentials of life that many of us can take for granted. Clean drinking water, sanitation, and basic health care are often beyond the reach of many coastal communities in the developing world. Small coastal communities are also particularly vulnerable to natural disasters like hurricanes and tsunamis, and they are often over-looked during major disaster relief efforts which tend to focus on easily accessible areas with larger populations.

While there are numerous international aid organizations intent upon assisting the developing world, many of these large aid programs tend to spend the majority of their budgets on research projects, equipment, and administrative overhead. All too often local villagers see little, if any real-world benefit from these projects despite good intentions. SeaAid takes a different tack by providing aid and assistance directly to coastal communities in need. No middlemen, no government corruption or bureaucracy - just direct aid to the people who need it the most.

The underlying philosophy at SeaAid is that small deeds can make a big difference in people's lives.

For example, the World Health Organization states that providing clean drinking water and sanitation to those communities currently without them would do more to improve the human condition than any other human intervention--including curing cancer and AIDS! Limited access to clean drinking water is one of the primary causes of illness and disease in the developing world - especially for children. And yet for roughly $5,000 and 2 to 4 weeks of volunteer labor, SeaAid can design, deliver, and install a solar-powered water distillation system and Bio-sand filters that can provide a village with fresh, clean, and safe drinking water! Just a few thousand dollars can dramatically improve the lives of those who live in remote coastal communities.

By utilizing our exclusive network of boaters, anthropologists, ecologists, and other professionals who work directly with coastal communities worldwide, SeaAid can identify communities in need of aid. We establish personal contact with trusted community leaders and ask them what we can do to help their community. SeaAid's Microdevelopment Project Coordinator provides the host community with detailed plans of 10 to 20 low-tech and low cost appropriate technology projects that have been successfully implemented in other villages. We then build the project of their choosing, teach the local people how to operate and maintain the project, and then we move on to our next project. Our goal is to leave the community with a renewed sense of pride and accomplishment while simultaneously reinforcing their independent and self-sufficient nature.

For more information about sponsoring a SeaAid project, please see our Project Sponsorship page.