At the beginning of our first month on the race, a teammate and friend suggested that I listen to a podcast by a group of people who called themselves the Liturgists. I downloaded the podcasts to my phone out of curiosity, and have been listening to them during different free times since then. At debrief I had nothing special planned, so I decided to listen to an episode called Suffering: Part 1 (here’s a link to all of their podcasts: http://www.theliturgists.com/podcast/). What I heard in this podcast absolutely broke my heart. It talked about everything from clean water, poverty, to prostitution, but what struck me was the fact that over 663 million people live without clean water. Listed below are some facts that I learned that you may be interested in learning too:
-with only $10 billion we could provide clean water and sanitation for ALL of the world.
-53% of diseases are caused by lack of clean water.
-in Africa alone, women spend 40 billion hours walking for water.
-in many countries young girls miss school for a week due to lack of toilets, due to lack of water.
If you’re anything like me, these facts probably upset you or made you feel guilty. As Americans we are born into such privilege that most of the time we do not stop to think about how life looks like in other countries. Over half of the worlds population lives on less than $2.50 a day. Yes, you heard that correctly, the amount of money that you spend on a sweet tea and small fry at McDonald’s, that’s the amount that some families have to spend on food for the day. If you have a phone, computer or tablet to view this blog on, you’re among some of the richest human beings to ever exist. Let that sink in. Although it may feel like solving the worlds water problem is way beyond our grasp, there is something we can do about it. There’s a great organization called charity water that uses 100% of the money donated to put toward providing clean water in villages without. In these villages, charity water works alongside locals to determine the best way that they can provide water, whether it be through a well or a rain water filtration system. How can you donate? You can donate directly to their website (https://www.charitywater.org/donate), you can fundraise (https://www.charitywater.org/get-involved/fundraise/), or you can pledge your birthday (https://donate.charitywater.org/birthdays/liturgists)! I have already decided that for my 20th birthday (August 30th of 2018) I will be pledging my birthday to charity water. This means that on my birthday, instead of receiving presents I will ask people to donate $20 to this organization. It’s a small way that we can all help out so if you’re feeling up to it, pledge your birthday too! There are so many people in need of clean water and we can help!!
