Not everyone is so lucky

It rains a lot in Seattle. It rains a lot in Ireland too, I am used to the rain.  In Ireland, the land is green all year apart from that once a decade "heat wave" when we ban using a hose pipe and everyone yearns for some rain...I mean it has been a whole week!...Where I grew up, in the rolling, hedgerow bound drumlins of County Monaghan in the townland of Ballycrannog ever house had its own bore hole well. Legend had it that ours was 500ft deep!  The year round rain slowly filtered by the limestone rock, until it is clean, pure and tasty...(unless you were a townie and preferred the chlorinated version)

One year, we had to stop using the well as it had become contaminated with animal feces namely cow dung.  When the great freeze of 97 came, we lost our pump because it as frozen. So over Christmas week we carted water in a milk churn, up the hill on a sledge from Mrs Hugh's house at the bottom of the lane. Another time, when living in Naas (pronounced Nace), after a very hard hockey session at St Davids National School, Mark and I came home and chugged a huge glass of water each. Then my Mum, says you did not drink the water did you?  Used to being told to drink water, as it is free we looked at her and said "Yes..."...Mum- "Jayney Mac, you two will be sick the water has been polluted with sewage!"...

We did get sick for a few days, most of the school and town did. But we all threw up for a few days drank lots of water (clean water trucked in by the town council) and got better. But we were lucky, if we had been born somewhere else in the world we may not have been so lucky.  In some places there is no council to truck in clean water, there is no alternative water source like Mrs Hughs, there is no one to fix our well.  These are the privileges of the rich, the westerner.

Uncovered shallow wells are common in Malawi. They are full of bacteria and virus'.

Last week, a Pastor in Texas, raised $25,000 for water improvement projects on Children of the Nations sites in Malawi, Uganda and Sierra Leone.  Clean and reliable water is essential for life, you can not live without water and living with dirty water is very difficult.  This money will see three communities in three countries get reliable, safe and adequate drinking water every day, forever.  In Dominican Republic last week, we began the process of partnering with another organization from Texas on developing a water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) program in five communities.   This program will empower the people and change the status quo that they live in forever.  Children of the Nations needs $10,000 to fund this. Thousands of people and families in the Dominican will experience life changing community and empowerment through this new partnership, $10,000 is not much to impact thousands.  Around the world this year 3.5 million people will die because of water borne illness and every day over 800million  struggle to find clean water to drink.  Shameful statistics. Join us to change this.  Be a part of something as simple as bringing clean water and education to communities.