water is life

Water is life, and because we have no water, life is miserable. - a voice from Kenya.

I believe our team is raising money specifically for World Vision to help provide clean water access for our neighbors in Africa. Here's just a look from an excerpt in A Hole in Our Gospel that describes how vital that need is:

"As many as 5 million people die every year of water-related illnesses. A child dies every fifteen seconds of waterborne disease. This creates a no-win situation for millions of parents in our world today- they can watch helplessly as their children die for lack of water, or they can watch them die from diarrhea, because the only water they have is tainted.

Tragically, living without water has even more dimensions. Thousands of hours are lost seeking and hauling water, especially by women. These are hours that could be spent earning an income or contributing to the wellbeing of the family and communiyt. This same task affects children too: millions of them are unable to attend school because of the hours they spend fetching water. And because of the unsafe quality of their water, many who can go to school are chronically sick and struggle with learning. Some waterborne parasites- Guinea worm, for example- can even result in crippling, and bacterial diseases such as trachoma can cause blindness.

Despite the risks, women and children in developing coutries invest two hundred million hours a day fetching water. That's equal to a full-time workforce of twenty-five million people fetching water eight hours a day, seven days a week! It is estimated that as many as one-half of the world's hospital beds are occupied by people with a water-related illness."

Today as I hydrate with my water bottle close at hand, I will set my mind to praying for those without such easy access to clean water, and I will thank Jesus for being living water who quenches the thirst of my soul.