Today we bring you excerpts and photos from Our Thirsty World, from Water: A Special Issue by National Geographic- April, 2010. You can find the article, pictures, and video here. Photographs by John Stanmeyer.
Our Thirsty World
"In wealthy parts of the world, people turn on a faucet and out pours abundant, clean water. Yet nearly 900 million people in the world have no access to clean water, and 2.5 billion people have no safe way to dispose of human waste—many defecate in open fields or near the same rivers they drink from. Dirty water and lack of a toilet and proper hygiene kill 3.3 million people around the world annually, most of them children under age five. Here in southern Ethiopia, and in northern Kenya, a lack of rain over the past few years has made even dirty water elusive." -Tina Rosenberg
"Where clean water is scarcest, fetching it is almost always women's work."
"When I first came to Foro, some 60 men were sitting in the shade of a metal-roofed building, drinking and talking. It was midmorning. Women, says Binayo, "never get five seconds to sit down and rest."
"In much of the developing world, lack of water is at the center of a vicious circle of inequality."
"When we are born, we know that we will have a hard life"-Binayo
We have passed the $3,800 mark of our water campaign! As a site, we are seeking to raise $5,000 to build a well for a community of 400, that will provide them with fresh, clean water for 20 years. If you can donate please do so here. Every dollar counts. Please tell you friends, family, Church's, youth groups, work, and school. Again, the link to donate is here.
Thanks for the different themes--women, faith, etc. I love thinking about water and how it relates to so many aspects of my life: cleanliness, faith, health, strength, etc. With water's organic, integral grip on our lives, it is to so many aspects of our lives it is amazing to think there are so many without. Thank you for reminding us.
ReplyDeleteIt was a good reminder from National Geographic. I'm thankful for their work and for their attention on water. Water is essential to life, it just amazes me that there are regions of the world waiting for a clean water source. I cannot wait to meet our goal and have a well built! I know one well will not solve the entire problem, but it is a start. Together we can do this.
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