Pedro's Blog: The Struggle For Clean Water In Sub-Saharan Africa

Having a hot shower at the end of the day has always been part of my routine, and it saddens me to know that many people living today will never have the opportunity to enjoy such a pleasant and simple moment. Running water is still considered a privilege.
When I get thirsty, I go to my fridge and get a bottle of water, but what if I didn’t own a fridge? Or what if I didn't even own a bottle of water?

In Africa, approximately 45% of the population doesn’t have access to clean water. Many nations are so poor that they cannot provide water and sanitation to their own population. By reading the post below, you will learn about the African struggle for clean water. Get involved; you can help save a life without spending one dollar.

"Water and sanitation is one of the primary drivers of public health. I often refer to it as "Health 101", which means that once we can secure access to clean water and to adequate sanitation facilities for all people, irrespective of the difference in their living conditions, a huge battle against all kinds of diseases will be won." - Dr. Lee Jong-wook, former Director General, World Health Organization.

“1 billion people on the planet don't have access to safe, clean drinking water. That’s one in six people in our world who don't have access to the most basic of human needs. In many parts of Africa and some other places in the world, those who are part of the 1.1 billion have to walk five or more miles to the only available water supply: a polluted swamp. UNICEF states that more than a quarter of these people (311 million) live in sub-Saharan Africa, which means that roughly 45% of Africa's population lacks access to clean water.” (Source: http://cleanwaterforafrica.blogspot.com/)

According to the founders of the Charity: water organization, “an average person in America uses about 150 gallons of water daily to cook, clean and drink. An average person in a developing nation struggles to find 5.

UNICEF states: In rural Africa, 19 percent of women spend more than one hour on each trip to fetch water, an exhausting and often dangerous chore that robs them of the chance to work and learn. Women without toilets are forced to defecate in the open, risking their dignity and personal safety. Education suffers too: more than half of all girls who drop out of primary school do so for lack of separate toilets and easy access to safe water.

The New York Times"For girls in Africa, education is an uphill fight." by Sharon LeFraniere, December 23, 2005.

BALIZENDA, Ethiopia: Fatimah Bamun dropped out of Balizenda Primary School in the first grade, more than three years ago, when her father refused to buy her pencils and paper. Only after teachers convinced him that his daughter showed unusual promise did he relent. Today Fatimah, 14, tall and slender, studies math and Amharic, Ethiopia's official language, in a dirt-floored fourth-grade classroom.

Whether she will make it to the fifth grade is another matter. Fatimah is facing the onset of puberty, and with it the realities of menstruation in a school where there is no latrine, no water, no hope of privacy other than the shadow of a bush, and no girlfriends with whom to commiserate. Fatimah is the only girl of the 23 students in her class. In fact, she is one of only three girls in the school who have made it past third grade. (Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/22/world/africa/22iht-ethiopia.html)

Water borne diseases:

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All of these diseases affect the productivity of the worker, and often cause their death. Most of them are easy to prevent and to treat, but in the world's poorest regions, these diseases affect the population and the local economy deeply.

Diarrhea is the third biggest child killer in Africa, after pneumonia and malaria—killing over 700,000 children a year. The World Health Organization estimates that a baby born in Africa is over 500 times more likely to die from diarrhea than a baby born in a G8 country (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States).

How can you help?