365 Random Days of Team Zybko

Day #236

October 24, 2012

Living Water International

LIVING WATER INTERNATIONAL KEY FACTS

• 783 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly one in nine of the world’s population. (WHO)

• 1.8 million children die every year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. This amounts to around 5000 deaths a day. (UNDP)

• LWI projects providing safe water and hygiene education at an average cost of twenty dollars per person, for a generation. (LWI)

• The simple act of washing hands with soap and clean water can reduce diarrheal diseases by over 40%. (UNICEF)

• Providing water and hygiene education reduces the number of deaths caused by diarrhoeal diseases by an average of 65%. (WHO)

• Water-related disease is the second biggest killer of children worldwide, after acute respiratory infections like tuberculosis. (UNDP)

• The weight of water that women in Africa and Asia carry on their heads is commonly 40 pounds, the same as the average airport luggage allowance. (UNDP)
• Water and sanitation infrastructure helps people take the first essential step out of the cycle of poverty and disease.

WATER-RELATED DISEASES
• At any given time, half the population of the developing world is suffering from one or more of the main diseases associated with inadequate provision of water and sanitation. (UNDP)
• At any one time, half of the developing world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from water-related diseases. (UN)
• Around 90% of incidences of water-related diseases are due to unsafe water supply, sanitation and hygiene and is mostly concentrated on children in developing countries. (WHO)
• Intestinal worms infect about 10% of the population of the developing world. Intestinal parasitic infections can lead to malnutrition, anaemia and stunted growth. (WHO)

Just a bit over a year ago I had the opportunity to go to Peru for a week long mission trip.

Heart changing .....yes.

Eye opening...... yes.

Humbling.....yes.

Would I go back....yes, in a second.

But, and a big FAT kinda but.....

I'm not here writing and talking about my goofy ole life as a average soccer mom. Not going to bore you with kids stories only my mother loves and is amused by. Or even go on and on about the prettiest of pictures you can only capture in Northern Minnesota.

Nope not today.

  

Angela Head was a terrific host and tour guide BUT I'm not gonna talk about her either. First of all she would hate that. She isn't the type of lady looking, seeking or craving any type of attention for herself. 

It's a God thing she would say about being called to serve in Peru.

I will say though, Angela is the kinda person you meet and instantly feel as if you have known her for years. Shes just got that kinda warmness oozing out of her big joyful Jesus smile! 

While on the website for

LIVING WATER INTERNATIONAL

I lingered and browsed for quite a while. The professional pictures were intense, National Geographic worthy if you ask me. 

I clicked through them twice.

A pictures tells a thousand words.

Or maybe ten is enough. 

Safe water=less decease=healthy people=better quality of life.

Yea, we all deserve that.

My equation above is written by someone not so great with math.

I'm super positive I am leaving out huge chunks of what Living Water does in this crude equation. This organization does much more than just provide safe clean drinking water to people all over the world.

I  apologize for my lack of knowledge on the ins and outs but this isn't an advertisement of any kind. More like a realization post. A love post. A post I was there in person to witness and feel. Standing only feet away from moms just like me, who have a similar responsibility and desire to give their children fresh water to drink. To cook for their families, to make a dinner with water that doesn't make them sick or potentially poison them to death. As they pumped from the Living Water well I let joyful smiles shine but fought back sweaty tears and becoming too rude with the clicking of my Nikon. Simply amazing to me how the process of  digging and building could even work in some of these places, considering how far off the jungle beat and path we actually were. Entire villages were more than grateful as they emerged from simple hut structures. Shifting my Nikes in the hot ,dry, dirt I watched intently as the happy people shook hands with Angela. Thanking her over and over again for what Living Water has done for the community with the installation of the well. 

Hope

Love

and

Clean Water

Moving onto to the water facts I couldn't help but read them out loud to everyone in the room. Even my five year could grasp how colossal the statistics were, how many people are affected everyday, and she, like her mother still counts with her fingers.

What do you mean.....

You can die from drinking bad water mommy?

Shame on me as her mommy who fills her water bottle daily from the kitchen sink. From a faucet I have no doubts about. With or with out a filter, no worries.

  

You may not be a #'s reader either. The data I copy and pasted may not speak to you, that's OK. As you scroll down and look at the gazillion of my favorite ones from the trip, allow the faces to speak to you. They are really real, you won't find them on a glossy, tri-folded pamphlet in the back of a church somewhere. You can although find them on my hard drive and in my tender heart forever. Stuck in my memory and folder labled Peru 2011. Engraved and  impossible to delete, even if I wanted to.

 Thank you to the GOD superheros that are also shown here. I appreciate and learned from what you taught us while we stayed in the beautiful country of Peru. 

God is good, all the time.

All the time, God is good.      

LIVING WATER INTERNATIONAL KEY FACTS

• 783 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly one in nine of the world’s population. (WHO)

• 1.8 million children die every year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. This amounts to around 5000 deaths a day. (UNDP)

• LWI projects providing safe water and hygiene education at an average cost of twenty dollars per person, for a generation. (LWI)

• The simple act of washing hands with soap and clean water can reduce diarrheal diseases by over 40%. (UNICEF)

• Providing water and hygiene education reduces the number of deaths caused by diarrhoeal diseases by an average of 65%. (WHO)

• Water-related disease is the second biggest killer of children worldwide, after acute respiratory infections like tuberculosis. (UNDP)

• The weight of water that women in Africa and Asia carry on their heads is commonly 40 pounds, the same as the average airport luggage allowance. (UNDP)
• Water and sanitation infrastructure helps people take the first essential step out of the cycle of poverty and disease.

WATER-RELATED DISEASES
• At any given time, half the population of the developing world is suffering from one or more of the main diseases associated with inadequate provision of water and sanitation. (UNDP)
• At any one time, half of the developing world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from water-related diseases. (UN)
• Around 90% of incidences of water-related diseases are due to unsafe water supply, sanitation and hygiene and is mostly concentrated on children in developing countries. (WHO)
• Intestinal worms infect about 10% of the population of the developing world. Intestinal parasitic infections can lead to malnutrition, anaemia and stunted growth. (WHO)