A MESSAGE FROM GIL GARCETTI
With my first trip to West Africa in 2001 I knew what to expect in the rural villages that did not have access to safe, clean water: wide-spread disease and infant mortality because of contaminated water, poverty, and back breaking daily labor performed by women as well as men.
I found all of this, but I also learned two facts: there is plenty of safe water for rural villages throughout most of West Africa. But it is all underground, and the countries of West Africa simply don’t have the money or expertise to find the water and bring it to the villagers. The second fact was even more striking: If a village doesn’t have access to nearby safe water, girls don’t go to school.
I also saw the transformation that takes place in a village when a borehole well brings the villagers safe water: girls go to school, the health of the villagers dramatically improves, women become micro-credit entrepreneurs, fruits and vegetables become available nearly year around because of what the villagers are taught to do with their water, and the economic well being of the village is enhanced in tangible, real ways that benefit everyone. All of this happens only because safe water is made available to villagers. It really is that simple!
A young girl, 7 or 8, and her mother brought home to me the import of having a nearby safe water source. They lived in a village in Niger. About nine months earlier, with the assistance of a non-government organization, a borehole well began bringing safe water to the village. Now that mother and her daughter do not have to spend hours a day—everyday—fetching water, the mother wanted her daughter to attend school.
Never in the very long history of the village had a girl ever attended school. I interviewed this shy young girl and she conveyed to me the importance and lasting effect safe water brings to villages. She told me she wanted to be a teacher. When I asked her why, she looked up at me and said, “Because then I could teach other girls what I am learning.” That is the magic of safe water.
YOU can help bring this magic to other girls and women in West Africa by supporting Salon Forum’s campaign to bring safe water to a village in Niger. Give what ever you can, $10 or $1000. It’s tax deductible but more important, it is spiritually and morally enriching. You will change someone’s life forever with just a little help.