From my associate Janice Giannini.
Recently, my church invited Scott Harrison to speak. Scott started Charity Water about 17 years ago. If you are interested in his back story, it begins around time marker 40:28; his talk continues to time marker 1:26.10. It is both enlightening and compelling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euncs_tYx48
I listened to him speak and watched the video clips he shared, thinking he was doing good work. I know many people don’t have clean water like most of us. I never truly understood what that meant daily in a person’s life. The part that made me sick to my stomach was time marker 55:27 through 59:20. If you only have a few minutes, it tells the whole story. Warning: It is heartbreaking.
10% of the people on the face of this earth do not have access to clean water. That is 770 million people, BTW. Lack of clean water drives 50% of the health issues in countries without clean water access.
Lack of clean water impacts people’s health, education, and the economy. Access to clean water improves their health, enables children to go to school, especially girls, and positively impacts the economy. Instead of walking five or more hours a day to get dirty, unhealthy, organism-tainted water, the women can start businesses to care for their families and send their healthy children to school.
Why am I sharing this with you? Most people who will read this have access to clean water and would be revolted by what a significant percentage of the global population must endure daily. Perhaps you are asking yourself, what can I do?
As you consider how to make a difference in this world and leave it a better place, would you:
- Donate; the amount does not matter. The people who will benefit most likely cannot say thank you to you. But it is greatly appreciated; it will change their lives, and you will know you made a difference in a child’s life. There but for the grace of God, go I?
- We all give gifts: birthdays, anniversaries, significant events, holidays, and no occasion. We often struggle with what is a meaningful gift because many of us don’t need anything. Give a well or part of a well or a gallon of petrol for the equipment.
- Throw yourself a party, and anyone who comes kicks in $20 or $25; then send it all to the Charity Water. It could strengthen your community and make a difference in someone else’s life.
For those who don’t trust charities, Scott set up Charity Water so 100% of all public donations go to the mission. He has aseparate funding mechanism for staff and infrastructure.
Currently, there are about 8 billion of us on this planet. Governments will do a certain amount. That will not be enough for so many reasons. Sadly, a lot of the aid may not even get to the people who need it the most. As individuals and as a group, we can make a difference. And it is up to us to chart what kind of a world we want to live in.
Because of Charity Water, about 17 million people across 29 countries now have access to clean water. There are still 770 million yet to go. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to enable clean water for everyone who needs it during our lifetime?
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please consider helping and sharing.
