All Laura wants for her birthday is water

Did you know that unsafe water and lack of sanitation cause 80% of all sickness and disease? Did you know that unsafe water and lack of sanitation kill more people every year than all forms of violence? Boy, that´s saying something given the violent world in which we live.

Are you aware that 1.1 billion people lack access to clean drinking water? That translates to one person out of every six who is directly affected by bad water conditions.

We forget that not every one has the option of turning on a tap, much less plumbing – be it indoor or outdoor. Most of us take water for granted. It is no big deal to turn on the spigot and let it run and run and run for the cold or hot water we desire at that moment. We think nothing of long showers, deep baths and generally treating water as a given. It seems unreal that there are mothers and children digging in the sand looking for available water.

There are those of us, our global neighbors, who must walk hours a day for water. The water they get is not clear and sparkling, nor does it come packaged in bottles. It is brown and smelly with floating bits and retrieved from polluted sources. Our neighbors carry this water home – all 80 lb. of it – in yellow fuel cans. Imagine what that water must taste like. All those petrochemicals are absorbed into bodies as well as used in cooking and washing. Everything is permeated with the tang and scent of petroleum.

Water is not a given. It is a necessity, a worry, a concern and much sought after, but, again, it is not a given. Water is essential to life. You would think that since our planet is made up of 70% water, this is a not a problem. However, 97.5% of that water is salt water. Therefore, only 2.5% is available for the six billion people on the planet today. We generally get our water from the 30% of fresh water that exists in underground lakes and aquifers.

How did I learn all these facts and figures? Via the web, our global connector, someone recently sent me a link to Laura (http://www.charitywater.org/pages/wellwishesfortheholidays/.com), who was making a wish that everyone who read her well wishes for the holidays, New Year´s, the Inauguration and soon-to-be birthday would donate $10. She is hoping that 2500 people will come forward and, with those monies, she can fund an entire water project.

Here´s why:

"Last year I returned from India with dysentery. I was easily cured. But I´d seen so many kids living in squalor there, and I learned that for impoverished kids … diarrhea can be a death sentence. 5,000 kids die EVERY DAY for a lack of clean drinking water."

"Today 5,000 children will die of totally treatable illness because they lack clean drinking water. Tomorrow, 5,000 more will die. And the next day… and… That´s 35,000 children … [in a week]."

"Safe water is a fixable problem touching many important issues:

Children´s health and welfare

Women´s rights

Environmental degradation

International development in impoverished nations

Equitable access to education"

"Unsafe water ruins health and opportunity and leads to military and economic conflict. Children suffer worst. Infant mortality is severe. Girls are kept from school to carry water for their families. Women suffer violent attacks and rape at remote water sources. Thousands of children, 90% of them under 5 years old, die from related infections. Every day."

I like Laura´s thinking. And $10 is very doable.

I also like her web page, which, in essence, is a sweet twist of a fundraising appeal. There is a picture of Laura with what I assume to be her two little girls, all of them dressed in holiday red. It´s just so real. The best part of the site is the ribbon of pictures and videos, tweets I believe they are called, under the picture of the oil can. Press those images for some interesting and provocative images.

And it is those interesting and provocative images that started this whole program in August, 2006. Laura is promoting charity: water (http://www.charitywater.org), a non-profit dedicated to creating clean water for developing countries, such Rwanda, India, Honduras, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya and Central African Republic.

charity: water was created by Scott Harrison, who was a successful promoter of top nightclubs and fashion events until he realized that he was "unhappy, I desperately needed a change in my life." In 2004, Scott Harrison signed on as a photojournalist on a mercy ship bound for Liberia, West Africa. For a year, he took pictures, and his pictures told the stories of the effects of unsafe water and lack of sanitation.

In 2005, Harrison showed his pictures in a fundraising exhibition entitled "mercy." He managed to raise close to $100,000, and mind you, that was also during Katrina days when the need for donor dollars were unusually intense.

I invite you to visit charity: water (http://www.charitywater.org). The site is full of pictures, videos and first hand views of the work they do. And, for the record, every dollar that is donated goes directly into water projects. Your donation does not pay for paperclips, flights to Africa or any administrative or organizational costs. Those expenses are covered by sponsors and private donors.

To quote Scott Harrison :" We´re not offering grand solutions and billion dollar schemes, but instead, simple things that work. Things like freshwater wells, rainwater catchments and sand filters. For about $20 a person, we know how to help millions of people."

They say water changes everything. Let´s update that: clean water changes everything.

And Happy Birthday, Laura, may your big wish come true.

Copyright 2009 by Adele Ryan McDowell.