A recent article written for the National Geographic News focused on the global need for clean water as the critical issue of our times for life, health and growth.  It noted that the United National General Assembly has recognized “the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights.”
Our efforts in Haiti, while making a difference, are not enough to make that right become a universal reality.  Individuals, communities, business and nations must join in this effort if we are to ensure that each person on the planet has access to the 20 to 50 liters of daily water required to sustain life and lessen the chance of disease and illness.

The article notes:
“About 5,000 children die each day due to preventable diarrheal diseases such as cholera and dysentery, which spread when people use contaminated water for drinking or cooking. A lack of water for personal hygiene leads to the spread of totally preventable ailments like trachoma, which has blinded some six million people. Water woes also trap many low-income families in a cycle of poverty and poor education—and the poorest suffer most from lack of access to water. People who spend much of their time in ill health, caring for sick children, or laboriously collecting water at distances averaging 3.75 miles (6 kilometers) a day are denied educational and economic opportunities to better their lives.”
Yet there is progress: “due to the dedicated efforts of governments and NGOs since the 1992 Earth Summit, safe drinking water has been made available to some 1.7 billion people around the world, with projects ranging from modern piped plumbing to rainwater collection and storage.”
Make a commitment to help  us build more wells in Haiti. No gift is too small.
~Michael and Frida Donner