If you are like me, the holiday season is less about giving gifts to my extended family but about celebrating all the gifts we already have (and usually take for granted). Security. Safety. Food. Housing, Employment. Health.
Celebrating these things also reminds me of just how far so many others have yet to come in order to experience a fraction of what we have. The starkest example I can think of is so simple we don't think about it every day: access to clean, drinkable water.
Here are some incredible statistics about the water crisis.
- MORE PEOPLE DIE FROM LACK OF CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION each year than are killed by all forms of violence, including war.
- Diarrheal disease caused by unsafe water is the SECOND LEADING KILLER OF CHILDREN WORLDWIDE, (It’s the first in sub-Saharan Africa.)
- In sub-Saharan Africa 16 MILLION HOURS EACH DAY are spent by women collecting water. This takes time away from work, school, and family.
What does improving access to water actually do? Why not fight disease or donate to small business funds? Because water supercedes all of those demands...
- Women can use the time once spent walking for water to pursue other important opportunities like EARNING AN EXTRA INCOME AND COMPLETING THEIR EDUCATION.
- Clean water projects that are built near schools significantly INCREASE CLASS ATTENDANCE, especially in girls.
- At times, clean water projects mean families can start small subsistence gardens near their homes to provide RELIABLE ACCESS TO FOOD.
I have had a lot of people tell me that they'd rather help with something closer to home; and I get that...IF you are actually doing something. For the price of just $20 you can help someone get drinkable water, and that small donation certainly doesn't preclude you from doing more here or elsewhere.
Thanks for your support!!!
Patrick