Water Comes to Town A Cause for Celebration

Global Partner board member Diane Henke at a water inauguration celebration By Tim Dewane, Shalom, Notre Dame of Elm Grove arch 21, 2012, is a day for celebration. On this day, the good people of the community of Chinanton, Guatemala, will come together to celebrate something far too many of us take for granted water. For the first time in their history, the 220 families (about 1,500 people) will have fresh spring water delivered to their community via a pipeline no more spending hours carrying water from contaminated streams miles away! Sister Jan Gregorcich, executive director of Global Partners: Running Waters, Inc., explains that the completion of a new water supply system is definitely a cause for great celebration. On inauguration day, a big platform is erected, they bring in a sound system from the local school and pine needles are spread on the ground. The whole community gathers to give thanks for the precious gift of water. Water Access While more than 70 percent of the Earths surface is covered by water, access to clean water is still a major issue for many of our sisters and brothers around the world. It is estimated that approximately 884 million people lack access to clean water thats almost three times the population of the U.S. Every 20 seconds a child dies from a water-related illness. Did you know that women and girls spend some 200 million hours each day collecting water? In sub-Saharan Africa alone, 40 billion hours a year are spent hauling water. This is time not spent attending school, caring for family members or working at an income-producing job. Progress Being Made According to the United Nations, the world is on track to meet the overall Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people living without sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015, but much work remains, particularly in rural and isolated areas. Experts tell us that community involvement is one of the keys to developing and maintaining water supply systems in such challenging areas. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that Global Partners: Running Waters has been so effective, with 45 water projects completed in the last 10 years, providing clean water to more than 15,000 people. As Sister Jan explains, All of our water projects, including Chinanton, are locally developed and community-driven. Our fundraising is focused not simply on dollars, but on developing relationships. Its about solidarity. What Can I Do? World Water Day is March 22. How about taking some time this month to reflect on this most precious and basic gift of God? Commit to learning more about water issues (locally and globally) and explore steps you can take to conserve water and make it more available for others.

Be inspired by a Louisiana 2nd grader raising money for a water project in Guatemala. For information and ideas, check out the World Water Day and Global Partner: Running Water websites.
Shalom Staff: Tim Dewane, Sisters Jeanne Wingenter and Paulette Zimmerman

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