One of my favorite things to do [and has been since I was a little tater-tot] is to go swimming. As a result of that, I’ve always felt very much at home in the water. I think that if I wasn’t placed on the earth as a human, I would have been a fish, especially since anytime I’m around water I immediately feel at ease.
Tonight as I went for a midnight swim and felt the water seep into my bones, making me feel stronger with each stroke, I started to think about the life force that is water. Being a defining element that connects us all in the world, water runs throughout the globe joining our continents and our communities. It is something that we all need to live. It’s something that we often don’t think about doing without. Or making us sick.
In areas throughout the world where water can’t make strong bones, the life force that we all require is unclean and causes more sicknesses in children under the age of five than AIDS and Malaria combined. I cannot imagine the element that I get a spiritual high from causing me to be sick or to be unable to participate in school or other activities because I have to walk miles in order to retrieve it.
By looking at water in this way, it will change the way you view pouring a glass of water from the tap, brushing your teeth in the morning, or even going for a midnight swim. And if we can spread this awareness to create action, then more avenues can be created in order to bring clean and accessible water to others around the world.
Because water shouldn’t be a privilege but a right. It shouldn’t be something that one has to worry about being clean or traveling hours for in order to bring to their family… it should be able to serve its purpose, to give life and make strong bones throughout the world.
Get Thirsty, Kimi
Yo! A new voice is joining forces with YBTC… I’m Kimi and have been given the privilege to “guest” blog for this great cause. I met up with YBTC over a year ago and soon learned how thirsty I was to join the movement towards getting clean water to the world!
This word “thirsty” has gotten me thinking lately. The dictionary defines it as thus: (adj.) “feeling or having thirst, needing moisture; parched, eagerly desirous.”
Now I don’t know about you, but one thing I find lacking in today’s world is thirsty people, but I don’t mean of the literal kind. There are people all over the globe “in need” of proper sanitary water conditions [that is what YBTC is about], and this need is a constant presence that we are fighting hard to improve and change… Hence, I am speaking more of the “eagerly desirous” types in the end of the above definition.
We are accustomed to being satiated with everything that we need and want and more that we too often lose our desire to taste- to taste the depth and intensity and urgency of many, many situations around us. And that is what YBTC is about, creating a global thirst for clean water for all people.
We are too blessed in America and often forget the global crisis of sanitary water conditions in other parts of the world, but the inability to thirst ends here. We encourage you to become aware, educate yourselves on this global need, and join forces with us to provide clean water around the world. Let us GET THIRSTY together for change. For action. For YBTC and clean water.
its been three months since I’ve posted to the blog and feel it is time for a quick update on the happenings of YBTC. 1st I will admit, things are moving a bit slower than I hoped. However, they have not been standing still.
I have found some inspiration and have been working on a book idea …. More info on that soon.
The next three months will be spent finalizing and trying to find out of this epic idea of mine can spearhead this charity into greatness and make the difference I dream it can make.
More will follow soon. Maybe even a sneak peak… :-)
Water-related diseases cost 443 million school days a year.
More than 150 million school-age children are severely affected by waterborne parasites like roundworm, whipworm, and hookworm. These children commonly carry up to 1000 parasites at a time, causing anemia, stunted growth, and other debilitating conditions.
Children who suffer from constant water-related illnesses carry the disadvantages into school. Poor health directly reduces cognitive potential and indirectly undermines schooling through absenteeism, attention deficits, and early drop-out.
“Over half of all schools worldwide lack safe water and sanitation, jeopardizing the health and education of millions of schoolchildren. Most of the 115 million children currently out of school are girls. Many are denied their place in the classroom by lack of access to decent toilets at school, or the daily chore of walking miles to collect water.” – UNICEF, 2005
