Something some of us in this country tend to take for granted is our access to healthy drinking water. My water, at least, has never been dirty or made me sick, to my knowledge of course. I can get relatively clean water from my tap, boil it to make it “cleaner”, then put that water through my Brita filter and feel better about drinking water from the tap. Which has been the case for my entire life. Some children grow up getting water from muddy holes in the ground and other less than sanitary options that aid to getting and keeping the sick and dehydrated. I chose this issue because it is such a huge issue in the world, and even though it doesn't directly effect me I can see the impact that the lack of healthy water is having around me.

The following 5 points of information were taken from www.water.org/water-crisis/water-facts/water

and shows how many people in the world, by region are lacking clean drinking water:

1. Africa- 345 million without access to clean water
2. Latin America & the Caribbean- 32 million without access to clean water
3. South, West, Central Asia- 196 million without access to clean water
4. Southeast, East Asia, and Oceania 200 million without access to clean water
5. Developed countries- 10 million without access to drinking water

     Those numbers are scary. Hundreds of millions of people are stuck without any access to clean drinking water. Something that seems so simple that we need to survive and live healthy lives isn't available to them. It makes you wonder about everything else that they must not have access to, this situation is utterly heartbreaking.

     I've always wanted to do missionary work, through any institution that involves work with young adults. Raising awareness and jumping right in to help bring water filtration systems across the world would be an ideal next step, but on a more realistic field in regards to what I would be able to do now I am currently researching foundations that do help out to see if they accept donations or need volunteers for anything local. This issue hurts my heart, especially when I think of babies and young children that have no say in the matter and can't do better for themselves. Summer time in New York City means I will be sure to see fire hydrants openly pouring water out, sprinklers in the park spitting out water, thousands of people pouring bottles of poland spring over their heads in Central Park, without even so much as a second thought about who is not able to have a sip of clean water. I want to be apart of lowering those devastating numbers. So many children die yearly from lack of access to clean water (CDC, 2013), so many children that could have grown up to experience life, become teachers, doctors, lawyers, artists, anything, lose their chances because they end up with diseases due to lack of clean water and end up leaving this Earth earlier than necessary.

References:

1. Water.org. (n.d.) Retrieved May 17, 2014 from http://water.org/water-crisis/water-facts/water/
2. Cdc.gov. (n.d.) Retrieved May 17, 2014 http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/global/wash_statistics.html