Water: Our Scarcest Natural Resource Next To Oil

         I know I have been concentrating most of my efforts to the cause of the clean water crisis in Africa but I became curious about the rest of the World, in particular my World, the U.S.A.  Are we immune to water issues? We would like to think so but Oh Contrair! Some sources expect that 36 States will have water shortages by 2013 and already, the seven states, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California that share water from the Colorado river have begun negotiations on how to manage the river's limited and dwindling flow.

        This is my cat Tucker... We have a love/hate relationship but my daughter Ella says mostly love no matter what I say. He is like a two year old child, really... and I guess my husband and I have fed into that.  He does not like water from his bowl but begs for water from the tub. He begs for allot of other goodies which he often also gets but to save him from any embarrassment I did not picture his rotund little body! Sometimes we forget to turn off the tub water stream and find that it may have been running freely for hours at a time.  By the way..... I know I have the ugliest bathtub you have ever seen.

                  

         Allot of our rainwater here in the US falls to the ever growing concrete slabs and picks up bacteria, pollutants and chemical along the way.  It's not being absorbed into the ground but runs off into our water systems, streams, rivers and lakes.  A large portion of our water treatment facilities were built decades ago and were not designed to handle the volume of all the runoff and impurities we are now putting in our water.  For instance all the pharmaceuticals and pesticide's that are constantly being dumped into our drainage systems are some of the items that our treatment facilities have a hard time filtering out.  In some areas raw sewage and illegal dumping are contaminating streams, rivers and lakes.

         In our land of plenty I think we just don't think about it and take for granted God's blessings because water has always been plentiful for us. You can bet your bootie that if my family were living in Uganda today, We would not even consider running tub water for our cat.... no matter how precious.                          Just something to think about....

Day Eleven:

       The calendar says that I am a quarter of the way through the 40 day challenge and I have to say that it's true what they say about being able to think more deeply about things when you are deprived of something you are used to having.

       Today I have been thinking about an aspect of water that doesn't involve being thirsty. It is the problem of sanitation. Another byproblem of having a lack of accesible clean water.

       I am sure most of you have and I know I have experienced times when the power went out, sometimes for a few days at a time due to bad weather or a main power line beeing downed. How inconvenient when their is no electricity to pump water up to our faucets or toilets. I don't know about you, but at that time water and sanitation becomes a big part of my thought process.  This week I have been thinking about what it would be like to be in that situation permanently.  From the time we are in preschool here in the Western world, we are taught hygiene.  Everyone has sung the "Twinkle Twinkle little star" song while washing hands and the proper technique on how to do. We take for granted that the rest of the world has been taught the same thing.  What I have learned is that a lot of programs involved in the clean water campaigns are spending time, energy and money teaching water hygiene techniques to not only children but adults as well. Amazing... I had no idea!

The "tippy tap" is a low cost, low tech, low water, hands-free device to promote hand washing with soap.

         It baffles me to think that thousands of children die all over the world not only because they have no access to clean water, but the water that they do have available to them is so far away, scarse and not very potable. They skip sanitation practices because either it takes too much energy or due to ignorance and they end up getting sick or dying from diahrea, dehydration caused by gineaworm, disentary, cholera, trachoma which are all water born diseases. All this is so preventable with education and simple water saving techniques.

Day Eight:  Blessed

Blood:Water Missions has put together a journal for those who have chosen to take this 40 day water challenge. The journal is an assortment of verses, success stories, plain o'll facts and words of encouragements. I wanted to share today's journal entry with you.

       Slowly, the days when the sun would shine became fewer and fewer.  Everyone knew what it meant: life and death were coming.

       Sure, the water brings life, if, and only if, someone was lucky enough to catch it in a clean container.  It would water the plants. The gardens. The animals. For a short time, anyway.

       After a few days, the rain would continue and the roads would become nearly impassable.  As everyone went about their business, they would notice how deep the water would get.  Anything with value was placed as high as it could go: sometimes on the corrugated metal roofs.  Before long, in the deepest places, children were not allowed and adults trudged through the mud and streams as they went about their daily activities.

      Flooding was inconvenient and stripped away so much of what this village had.  But it wasn't the flood that did the most damage. It was cholera.
cholera spreads through water.  If one person in the village has it, everyone who touches the water is at risk.  And every year, thousands of people would die during the rainy season because of the cholera outbreak.  The overabundance of rain was their only supply for drinking water.  And it wasn't clean.  They were cursed and they were named for it.  The name of the village, Chapulu Kusu, means cursed in Bemba, the language of this area in Zambia.

      They may have been cursed, but they were not forgotten.  Seeds of Hope International, one of the partners of Blood:Water Mission in Zambia, took notice.  They built wells.  They provided bio sand filters.  They educated people on hygiene and sanitation.
Everything changed.

      The next rainy season came, and not a single person died of cholera.  It happened again.  Nobody died.  And again.  And again.  No deaths because of cholera.

      Realizing the life clean water brought, the people of Chapulu Kusu petitioned the Zambian government to have their name changed.  No longer would they be know as cursed.  A new name was on their lips:

Mapalo,  which means blessed.

      The government agreed with the petition and the village mane was changed.  Now when the rainy season comes, the only thing that washes away is the fear, and the life and the blessing of clean water stays.


                     

Reflection#8: What's in a name?  Dignity.....  Reflect on the freedom that is lifted when life replaces death.


"Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."  Matthew 25:40

Day Seven:  I am posting a video on Bio Sand Filters, pretty interesting if you've never seen one. It amazes me that this simple device is such a lifesaver and so inexpensive to build. What is so great about this technology is that volunteers are working with the local population, teaching them how to build and maintain these things. Sort of like the old saying "give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, but teach him how to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime." Apparently these bio filter boxes were invented by a professor in Canada in the 90's and are being installed by many humanitarian outreach groups. This video was made by a group called "All Hands" and was filmed in Haiti.

 I am having a serious debate about whether to drink coffee this Sunday since I had to deal with another day of caffeine withdrawals on Monday. Only time will tell if I will cave under the temptation.... will I be a glutton for punishment? I love the way people are interested in what I'm doing and they ask how my water journey is going.  It's very encouraging to know that people really do care about their world and the people in it.

"He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done".                  Proverbs 19:17

Who Is My Neighbor?

Day Six: After a break yesterday, it's back to drinking only water for 6 more days and though I really enjoyed my cup of coffee Sunday morning it made me a little jittery... I'm sure I'll get over that once I get back in the regular habit of it LOL! I am also eating more and I'm not sure why? I have heard that coffee will suppress appetite and maybe it's because my taste buds are bored..... Not good that I am probably gaining weight but still good that the money I am saving will go towards the drilling of wells and construction of bio sand filtering boxes.

                                       Who Is My Neighbor?

                          


        Luke 10:25-37 is the well known parable of the Good Samaritan who finds a man along the side of the road badly beaten and robbed and cares for all his needs until he can recover. Before the Samaritan found him, a priest and a Levite who were religious leaders in their time had seen the poor wretched man and had passed by on the other side of the road, ignoring the man's distress.

                                     Who Is My Neighbor?

       With mass media coverage we have awareness of the needs of others which was not so available 50 years ago. We have access to all sort of means of travel which was not so easy 50 years ago and we have the ability now with better equipment, medicines and new technologies which were not available 50 years ago. We have so much to offer in the 21st century.......... So why don't we?

Bono from the rock band U2 has been the voice for the poor in the World for a long time now and said these words which were sobering to me.



Anderson Cooper and Bono full lenght K'naan Samalia famine




        "15,000 Africans are dying each day of preventable, treatable diseases.  This statistic alone makes a fool of the idea many of us hold on to very tightly:  The idea of EQUALITY, there's no way we could conclude that such mass death day after day would ever be allowed to happen anywhere else.  Certainly not in the US,EU or Japan.  An entire continent bursting into flames?  Deep down, if we really accept that their lives, African lives are equal to ours, we would all be doing more to put the fire out.  It's an uncomfortable truth."

               

        Why is it that the crash of a single airplane makes headlines while the equivalent of one hundred planes, filled with African children crashing daily never reaches our ears? Because that is the reality folks!  Maybe it's because the child is not our own. Maybe if it were happening in our own neighborhood?



Beginnings

    Day Two:  No headaches today, but this is going to be harder than I first thought it would be. I will just keep in mind that Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days, Noah sat in that Ark for 40 days, Elijah walked to Mount Horeb for 40 days and not to mention the Israelites who wondered the desert for 40 years. 


      How do you Begin your day? Everyone by now knows how I start my morning and over 54% of Americans drink coffee daily as the start of their morning routine as well. In countries with little access to clean water, most women begin their day by taking empty water containers to the closest water source. In many areas in Africa, these treks can be five, ten, even twenty miles long depending on the region and the season. After hours of walking, these women will likely wait in line for another several hours to fill up their containers (usually 10-20 liters; which weigh 22 to 44 pounds) and carry them the long distance home.

This is a world vision sponsored video called "In Sabina's Shoes" where a journalist named Kari Constanza follows an African wife and mother for a day.  It's a little lengthy but well worth the watch!

    Instead of beginning their day at school, many children are also needed on these long journeys to provide water for the family. When it comes down to choosing between education or fetching water, water always wins. It’s needed for survival.

Water is a scarce and therefore an often exploited commodity in these areas. Because those responsible for gathering water – women and children – are also the most vulnerable, they’re subjected to sexual assault and robbery. The roads are almost always unpaved and the terrain can be dangerous due to landscape or wildlife. Over the course of time, carrying this amount of weight repeatedly causes various bone and joint issues that produce complications during pregnancies or later on in life, preventing these women from gathering water in the future.

    However, women and children have no choice. Their families need them to make these daily sacrifices in order to get water and survive.

      As you begin 40 Days of Water, think about how you begin your day. As you give your coffee pot a forlorn look as you pass it by, allow your mind to wander to the other side of the world. Imagine waking up and beginning the day with an arduous and dangerous task that you have no choice in doing. Think of the weight these women and children carry – not only physically, but emotionally as well.

Reflection #2: Today, be grateful that clean water is only at most, a few feet away from you and that you have the opportunity to help lessen the load these women and children bear. Pray for them today.

Written by Anne Jackson and Friends of Blood:Water Mission               

Day One

        So far so good, this morning was a little rough not getting to smell the familiar fragrance of my coffee machine's brewing timer turning on at exactly six oh five and the joy of sipping on a hot cup of Joe while getting ready for work.  I popped a couple of Ibuprofen's to subdue the inevitable coffee headache, drank 8oz of water instead and thanked God for the assistance he promises me in my time of need as I headed off to work. I keep reminding myself that this is a good thing.


        A few years ago I ran across this little book with a different take on the traditional nursery rhyme of Jack and Jill. I believe it's done by the UK,Australia and New Zealand's branch of Samaritan's purse called "Turn on the Tap" program.  I tried to order some to share with some of the kids (and adults) in my life but couldn't get through the international red tape. Could be I haven't tried hard enough.

Jack and Jill