Gemma Bulos

As a pre-school teacher who was not on her regular 8:50am train to the World Trade Center on September 11, Gemma Bulos, witnessed a global community united through tragedy. In response, she wrote “WE RISE”, a rousing anthem that celebrates water as a metaphor for peace and unity in action. She left her life, sold everything and with her meager savings began traveling around the world to launch the unprecedented Million Voice Choir where groups sing “WE RISE” on September 21, in celebration of the UN International Day of Peace and Global Cease Fire Day. In Spring 2004 she founded the non-profit organization A Single Drop (ASD) and it’s first formal year, the Million Voice Choir united peaceful voices from over 100 cities in over 60 countries and was the single initiative that has helped her to become a living example of ASD’s concept; it takes a single drop of water to start a wave, one person to initiate social change. To date, the Million Voice Choir has dissolved the political, religious, social and cultural boundaries by bridging together a variety of groups who would not normally find themselves doing anything together.

A virtual volunteer, she traveled around the world building the Million Voice Choir, she shared the interactive presentation “Water, Music and Unity: The Pathway to Peace and Global Harmony” exploring the power of water and music in our fundamental human relations, our global interactions and in peacemaking. Her work as a head teacher at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, mentor for at-risk youth in the South Bronx, and international volunteer work, combined with her work as a performer, has helped her develop a comprehensive and entertaining approach to bridge art and activism to raise awareness of global water issues and inspire water stewardship to cultivate peace. The diverse audiences where she has presented span the gamut of age, cultures and belief systems; schools (K-12 to University level), interfaith and sacred indigenous gatherings, prisons, international conferences on peace, conflict resolution, women and youth empowerment, environmentalism, wholistic healing, and numerous appearances at the United Nations. The distinguished leaders whom she has presented alongside range from Archbishop Desmund Tutu, Mrs. Kofi Annan, Dr Jane Goodall, Chief Oren Lyons, Pete Seeger, the Honorable Ela Ghandi daughter of Mahatma Ghandi, Meadowlark Lemon, Ann Bancroft, first woman to brave the Arctic and Antarctica; and so many more.

In 2005, Gemma received the CG Vibes Award from Cover Girl and Queen Latifah honoring women who are changing the world through music and in 2006 was honored at the United Nations on the Global Day for the Rights of A Child by the Global Healing Foundation at an event sponsored by UNICEF for her tireless work with youth around the globe. A trained BioSand Facilitator and certified in Permaculture Design, Gemma applied her award money toward developing humanitarian programs such as ASD’s SafeWater for All People Initiative and the Women WaterKeepers Program, with the intention of bringing potable water to the 1.2 billion people who lack it. She recently expanded ASDs global action by opening a sister office, A Single Drop For SafeWater (ASDSW) in the Philippines in 2006. ASDSW offers simple and affordable water technologies and strategies that help communities create self-reliant local centers of water expertise that are citizen run. This innovative strategy won her the prestigious Echoing Green Fellowship and she was recognized as one of the “Best Emerging Social Entrepreneur of 2007”.

In June 2008, Gemma expanded ASD’s Women WaterKeepers Program by co-organizing the African Women and Water Conference endorsed by Nobel Peace Laureate Professor Wangari Maathai and hosted at her Greenbelt Movement Training Center and who gave the closing speech at the conference. This program supports African women with the much needed technology and organizational skills to address their local water issues. The Women WaterKeepers Program has quickly spread to seven countries in Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa) including a Orphan Center in Mozambique and soon in Zambia and Ethiopia.

Like water, she continues to flow around the world as a global volunteer initiating water projects, raising awareness of the global water issues and all the while uniting peaceful voices through the healing power of music and every living being's shared need for water. For the last seven years she has lived without a home and paycheck but celebrates everyday with the belief that she will always be taken care of. All the funds and financial rewards she receives from gracious donors go directly towards the mission to bring safe water to all people.