We live in a water bottle nation. In our homes we have access to multiple taps, ice cubes, and cabinets full of plastic tumblers, yet we opt to buy our drinking water in crates at the bulk market and lug it home instead.

An article on MSN estimated that Americans spent more than $15 million on water bottles in 2007, an interesting irony since we can get water virtually free, you know, anywhere. In typical American solipsism, we have chosen to horde and exploit a natural resource Biblically used as a metaphor for Christ Himself.

And the question is why?

The answer is very unphilosophical. It is simply this: we aren’t thirsty.

We aren’t the ones comforting an infant dying of cholera. We aren’t the ones crammed into urban slums vying for access to polluted mains. We have never suffered through months of diarrhea, dehydration, or malaria due to a contaminated water source. Water has lost its inherent value in our lives. It has become a convenience, a fashion statement, an indulgence.

Americans aren’t monsters. (Are we?) We are just too busy tossing–nearly full–plastic bottles from the gym bleachers or identifying whose bottle is whose after dinner. What would we do if an Indian slum resident were to witness this? How could we defend ourselves? We have more than we need, and we have a tendency to forget everybody else.

Fact: “World Bank estimates that 21% of communicable diseases in India are related to unsafe water.” (source: water.org)

Fact: “In India, diarrhea alone causes more than 1,600 deaths daily—the same as if eight 200-person jumbo-jets crashed to the ground each day.” (source: water.org)

Fact: Four children die every MINUTE of waterborne diseases.

Fact: For $7.77 (less than you spend on water bottles!) you can give safe, clean drinking water to ONE PERSON for THIRTY YEARS.

The worldwide water crisis is vast, but we CAN make a change. Without major sacrifice, we could give fresh water to thousands of people. There is no reason why children should die for lack of water while we have it so extravagantly.

If Christ is the water of life, then let’s quit bottling Him up and leaving Him abandoned on our kitchen counters. Let’s give Him freely to all in need!

Learn how easy it is to make a difference at http://www.777water.org.

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In the light to the above article about India’s intensifying water crisis, it is encouraging to see so many new charities spring up rushing to provide water for the world’s thirsty.  It is only with this kind of drastic action and mobilization through awareness that lead to large scale participati0n that we will be able to prevent the water crisis from escalating.

The cost of the crisis is counted in the number of children under 5 that die every year from water-borne illness and diarrhea. Giving someone clean water is not about giving someone convenient access to it, but it is about giving the children in poor communities a chance at life.

Giving someone access to water is also one of the easiest things to do: With a gift of as little as $7.77 you can give someone access to safe, clean water.  It is such a low cost solution to a high cost problem.

The solution is simple. Can you commit to a gift of $7.77 per month this year to give 12 people access to safe water?

Spread the word!

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October 16th was world food day and October 17th was declared the UN International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. “This year’s observance highlights the role of the convention in securing children’s rights, in particular the right to survival and full development, the right to protection from abuse and exploitation and the right to participation in family, cultural and social life.” via International Day for the Eradication of Poverty – 17 October 2009.

In slum communities where many children come from illiterate families, absent parents or broken homes, kids of school-going age simply cannot compete with peers who are not challenged by the nutritional/developmental handicaps of life in a slum.

They are more likely to drop out of school or even enter the unskilled labor market at an early age. They are at an increased risk of undernutrition and malnutrition that severely affect their ability to concentrate and advance in a highly competitive public school system.

Destiny India Schools help to provide the foundation for these children to escape the cycle of poverty, by providing free education and proper nutrition to children in slums between 3 and 6 years old.

The destiny of these children are determined during these crucial early childhood years.

Read more about this project here.
Watch a short video about this project.

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