Tragically,
this is the only water source for
thousands of people living in the garbage dump
Most
people don't realize that there are humans in this world who
don't have access to clean water. This is a problem because
some people that have clean water access keep their doors
closed; they don't want to face this reality. Through the
project of building wells, we opened some of those doors by
making people aware of this issue. After creating awareness,
we created the wells.
Here
is a video of our well project in Cambodia
Tell
us what you think of our video at youtube.com
a pit
or hole sunk into the earth to reach a supply of water
THE
PROBLEM:
The problem is that not every person in this world has access
to good, clean drinking water. Imagine yourself as a hard
working mother that lives in a developing country. You have
5, maybe 6 kids, ranging in age from 5 months to 15 years.
Your main goal in life is to survive with your family. One
of the basic rules to surviving is to have food and water.
But, there is no clean water. The only water you can afford
to buy is free, polluted water from lakes, ponds and rivers
that you must carry several miles back to your home. In order
to survive, you let your kids and yourself drink the dirty
pond water. This is a major problem.
OPINION
and FACT:
Ours:
No human should have to survive on pond water, or any impure
water.
Theirs
(planetwire): “As many as 12 million people die each
year from unclean water and/or unsanitary conditions.”
WHAT?!:
There are so many diseases and bacteria that come from the
unclean water; the water that cattle, wildlife and humans
use to go to the bathroom in. Many people die around the world
each year from polluted and unclean water. Many of water-borne
diseases that humans acquire such as diarrhea and malaria
could be easily prevented with clean water and basic sanitation.
In fact, according to planetwire
quoted in the
World Food Programme's website,
“1.1 billion people consume water that is not clean
and more than twice that number do not have access to basic
sanitation.” Shouldn’t we be at least a little
bit concerned about this many people dieing because they don’t
have the resources to attain clean water?
We know that we are concerned about the 12 million people
that die each year form the polluted and unclean water (as
well as the unsanitary conditions). This is why we have decided
to take a stand and help out by raising money to build wells
in Cambodia. Each well costs around $250 and up. It varies
because of different factors. Compared to prices of wells
in America, building wells in Cambodia is not nearly as expensive.
In order to build at least one well, we needed to so some
fundraising. We raised money by asking for donations, serving
dinners at churches and also selling souvenirs from Cambodia.
The public was extremely gracious and willing to help; we
ended up raising over $3,700 for the wells. When we went to
Cambodia during January of 2007, along with the cultural communications
class from Rochester Community and Technical College, we had
time to actually help build the wells. We hulled rock and
sand, and even participated in the well digging itself. Although
we were not able to watch the finished product, we had friends
and trusted individuals that did. The villages were so pleased
to have these wells; we were filled with joy when we saw the
smiles on their faces. All of the hard work (which was nothing
compared to the work that the villagers had to do everyday
in order to attain water)
had paid off.
WHAT
YOU CAN DO:
So many people take the clean water that they have for granted.
We know that you, along with many other people, haven't the
time or resources to actually build wells, but we know that
we can all simply regulate the water that we use. We think
that we all need to remember what the TV show “Barney”
taught most of us as kids: “Don’t let the water
run!” If we can’t help out by building wells for
people to have water, then we can at least conserve the water
that we have, and remember that other people would “die”
to have clean water.
