More than 4000 children die every day in Africa because of a lack of clean drinking water! Today's a day that we should all give some thought to this. There are many projects that are working non stop to bring wells that supply clean water to the hundreds of thousands who either don't have it or have to walk miles every day to secure enough. Please be aware of this terrible situation, look it up on the Internet, get involved!
I'm directly involved in water treatment in SE Asia. Kind of at a small scale now, we import chlorine from Vietnam and provide it for point of entry purification to villages in Cambodia. But it does reduce diarrhea by about 40%, and diarrhea is the leading cause of infant death in the developing world. http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/waterforlife.pdf Incidentally, I live in one of the poorest countries in Asia, and the water in this city has won international awards for quality. I can drink the tap water in Phnom Penh.
It doesn't matter what scale the project is - it's happening and that's the main thing. Any reduction in death is a massive achievement. Good on you, Lode!
Would also like to become a part of this day as well..... Please let me know as to how i would be able to join.....
i gave money to comic relief the other night, much like on an annual basis, and so i support a notion of giving but i can't help but to think it's a scam. i truly feel terrible for people who are living in poverty - but i'm not sure who should feel worse me, for only sparing a thought? or those charities who earn millions each year and still haven't been able to build thousands of wells?
I don't know what "comic relief" is, but if you're worried about it just give to the red cross. They're still collecting money for Haiti, now on top of that they're collecting money for Japan. They're legit too, so you don't have to wonder where your money is going. I only give to them because I'm often skeptical of other charities without the track record.
comic relief, live aid, children in need. these are just big events that are staged to collect money on a national level. comic relief is a television based show, it earns millions and is on once a year. i don't care who it's given to, the point is with the amount raised collectively over the years, these people shouldn't be dying of thirst. so fuck the red cross as well - the only reason i take part is because i hope at least a fraction is spent correctly. this year they harped on about malaria, aids etc - generally about the price of drugs. that's the problem - drug prices, not the publics benevolence. it's the same with water i've always firmly believed that, as capitalist as i can be, things of necessity and products or services that can make a difference between life and death for instance, should not be charged. there's our number one ethical issue. it's wishful thinking, but i think the process is all wrong, and it's not even like the process actually benefits the end users anyways. there's too much bureaucracy.
That's how I ended up signing up with them. In Haiti the spread of Malaria could have been somewhat prevented if they had simply had clean drinking water sooner. Clean water is a big deal to prevent all sorts of medical issues, especially after natural disasters. Especially in third world countries.
I was wondering that too, as people can stay alive without any other resource, but can't without water!
in just a little suspicious. i'm pretty passive when it comes to charity because of these trust complications. i'd rather someday just spend a sixth months of my life actually out in one of these places, helping first hand. that's never off the cards.
Yea. The thing is though, aside from Africa, place like Haiti and Japan need the help now. Not years from now. But I know what you're saying. It would seem and feel a lot more rewarding to actually show up and help out. Later on though, life can get in the way.
allegedly the millennium development goals are on track to meet their targets. whether this is true, who knows.
Any legit charity has their accounts open to public scrutiny and you can see how much of the donations (if any) are spent on anything other than direct aid.
i suppose it's a question as to whether you believe the numbers. it just doesn't add up, but then, it never does. last i saw was comic relief having funded fifty million. just in one night. this happens every year, we have no evidence what this money does the following, just an insisting statement that 'things are getting worse'. hundreds of millions of pounds from the uk alone each year and africa still has a shortage of wells? sounds unlikely. they should sack their contractor, he is ripping them off.
