On the Ground

I've learned, and there are studies which prove, that it is hard to reach people's hearts unless you can make a problem personal. Perhaps that is part of the reason why waking up people living in the U.S. to clean water issues is so difficult - we have very little understanding of what life without clean water would be like because it is so far from the reality we know and live.

In his book, The Big Thirst: A Tour of the Bitter Fights, Breathtaking Beauty, Relentless Innovation, and Big Business Driving the New Era of High-Stakes Water, Charles Fishman succinctly sums up this problem in regard to Americans: "Our very success with water has allowed us to become water illiterate."

I would like to share an email that my mom received from her precious friend Claire about a trip she recently took to Chad to work on literacy issues:

I witnessed with my own eyes how much people need more wells. There are villages that are further back off the main roads those people might have to walk a ways to get water. And in the big cities like Sahr, in the South of Chad, they installed running water but they used rusty pipes to save on money. People can't drink the water and if they can't afford to install a filter then they have to go and get water at a well and fill up plastic containers with water. I often though of Claire and what she did to help people. 
The kids were bringing home one jug of water that contained about 1 gallon. I am assuming someone else goes later in the day to get more water. They will use this water for the whole house hold, to drink, wash, wash clothes, dishes..... That is why I was so happy when I saw a well right in a village. It improves peoples lives so much.  Like in the capital where there is running water, I saw men who would have a bowl of water in front of them in their shop or at the market and they would poor water on their arms, legs to stay cool in the afternoon. 
There were signs up saying that World Vision had build a well for the children or other Christian organization have build wells.  And it helps reduce sickness. If people can wash their clothes, their food, their dishes, themselves it reduces germs.... People get parasites from drinking dirty water. With the heat then they really feel miserable. Clean water can extend the life expectancy of these people. 
I can say I saw what a difference it makes for so many people. If I wasn't involved in literacy I would focus on clean water but I will tell other people in the States how we need to help those in countries that don't have enough wells. 


Claire has caught the vision and is doing what she can to inform others about the water problem in our world. She has opened up her heart to the problem, allowed it to become personal, and is becoming part of the solution.

Will you dare to allow the problem of clean water to become personal to you? Will you have the courage to care?