Donate My Dollars: Water for East Africa – Giving U™

Thank you for your participation! I will be joining Drop in the Bucket in Lira, Uganda in mid-October to begin building our GoErinGo! well! So exciting!

Water is one of the most pressing issues in the world today, that’s why the GoErinGo! Fund has committed to building a well for a village in East Africa.

And YOU get to decide which country deserves our well: South Sudan, Uganda or Kenya.

Vote for your favorite country by Oct. 1. (p.s. The old website had Uganda in the lead, but now we’re opening up a new vote.)

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Drop in the Bucket

Our well will be built by Drop in the Bucket, a nonprofit organization that has built nearly 100 wells in East Africa, providing clean safe drinking water and sanitation to tens of thousands of people.

These wells have literally changed the lives of everyone in the community. Kids no longer have to decide whether to walk to the well or to walk to school. And the women of the villages now have the spare time and extra water to grow a garden. Truly life changing.

The Importance of Water

Can’t see this video? Click on this link: Erin’s Drop in the Bucket Video

Here’s more information on the importance of clean water:

1. More than half of Africa’s people lack access to safe drinking water.
2. Each flush of the toilet uses the same amount of water that one person in the Third World uses all day for washing, cleaning, cooking and drinking.
3. 12 million people die each year from lack of safe drinking water, including more than 3 million who die from waterborne diseases.
4. 4. 80% of the disease in developing countries is related to poor drinking water and sanitation.
5. The average distance a woman in Africa walks to collect water is 3.75 miles.
6. The weight of water that women in Africa carry on their heads is equivalent to the maximum baggage weight allowed by airlines: 44 lbs
7. In some parts of Africa, women expend as much as 85% of their daily energy intake on getting water, increasing incidences of anemia and other health problems.
8. If the world’s water fit into a one gallon bucket, all of the water available to us to drink would be the equivalent of only one tablespoon.
9. Every day 10,000 children under the age of 5 die from water-related illnesses.
10. Every $1 spent on water and sanitation generates a return of $9 in saved time, increased productivity and reduced health costs in Africa.

Tags: Africa, DropintheBucket, water crisis, wells

This entry was posted on Friday, August 19th, 2011 and is filed under Donate My Dollars.