What is the #1 Game Changer in the Developing World?
In 2010, I led my first of three medical missions to the country of Mali, West Africa. I’ve been fortunate to travel throughout most of my life, but this was my first chance to work side by side with the people of the country I was in. We run clinical and surgical centers, and educate the children about hygiene.
These people, who have become my dear friends, have a level of poverty I’d only read about as part of the “bottom billion”, those who live on less than $2 per day. But what stuck out most to me is what my 14 year old son Ethan noticed when he accompanied me last year. He said, “Mom, these people are like, really happy.” And it’s true, and it’s the addictive quality of their joy that draws me to return over and over. Walking the red dirt paths through mud huts, the children are full of wonder and smiles and in moments 20 of them are walking with you, each trying to just have the privilege of holding your hand. The men try to assist you if you’re doing any work, and the women invite you into their hut, and share with you their little food to eat, with a welcoming smile. I’ve never learned more about humility.
This is my friend Famoussa. He was the first little peanut to venture out from the tiny village of Dagabo. Obviously you can see he was very sick. He was weak, underweight and had diarrhea running down his legs. After some quick deductions, we figured out he had a water related illness because their well was broken, so the village resorted to their old hand dug well, which looked like this.
Open, hand dug wells are contaminated with everything from dead animals to pesticide run off. The open tops provide an easy place for a child to drown. Obviously drinking this type of water will make you sick. When I got home, I asked some friends if they could help fix his well…and they said Yes.
When I returned the next year, a healthy Famoussa ran out to greet me. After this experience, I started to learn a lot more about water...
Ha — This made the rounds of the internet, and in a humorous way, it points out that we in the Western world don’t think much about our water. We have multiple taps in our house, we get a glass of water every time we sit down at a restaurant, heck, we’ve even convinced ourselves that our tap water isn’t good enough and we buy bottled. So I felt pretty isolated from how a large portion of the world lives, which looks like this:
Famoussa WAS one of the 780 Million people who don’t have access to clean water. 200 million hours are spent collecting water EVERY DAY, mostly by mothers and girls. The average distance to collect water, which is typically unclean, is 6K. If you could change one thing in the life of an impoverished person, access to clean water is #1.
If you have clean water, you can:
Stay healthy, Work, Go to School.
Girls who stay in school put off marriage longer, have less children, and can earn their own income, which they reinvest into their families.
Red Dirt firmly believes in the dignity of self-sufficiency. While there can be a place for hand-outs, we are much more interested in hand-ups. This is why we partnered with Water.org, founded by Gary White and Matt Damon. They are on the forefront of water access in the developing world. I invite you to learn more about them.
Today, acknowledge the ease of getting water from the tap when you brush your teeth and take a shower. Give a little extra thanks for that glass of water you get at every restaurant, for free. I cheers to you with my glass for choosing to be a conscious consumer.
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