Water?

Have you ever returned from a trip eager to look at your photos in total, only to find pictures you thought were in place, missing?  Today finds me in such a place.  Grrrrrrr.   I can't believe that one of the most moving moments for me is undocumented by my pictures.  My initial subject matter today will change just a bit now :( but the theme of today's blog is going to remain the same! This theme will surface over and over again in days to come.  WATER! 

I was pulled into Hands of Hope through a campaign to raise money for wells in Uganda.  Water, water, fresh, clean water the most important element of life that I can judge, beside air.  For with water you can grow the food needed to live, you can become clean and refreshed with water, you can fish for food through water and without water you die. 

My acute awareness of how critical water is started long before I went to Africa.  My daughter Kara was a very severe diabetic.  Her blood sugars were often very high and water was all she desired.  One summer she was swimming in a nice 'clean'  lake with friends.  That afternoon she called to tell me she had ingested some of the lake water and she 'knew' it was making her sick.  By early evening she was in the ICU close to death.  For her weak immune system this water though 'clean' was a killer.

Water in a desert wasteland is precious.  When I thought of mothers and young girls having to walk miles to get some form of water (not always clean) in 5 gallon buckets, to then walk back to their dirty huts, day in and day out,  my heart wrenched with emotion over their plight.  A gallon of water weighs (thanks to my friend Cheryl) 8 lbs.  Do the math! Each day, with a baby on her back a woman will carry 40 lbs of water.  Once the water has been gathered her other work begins.

In blogs to come I will be on a mission to raise money for 8 new wells.  Just be on notice :).  Why 8? Because Hands of Hope has money currently for two wells and we need money for 10, to begin digging.  $5000 is all that is needed for one well. :)  Stay tuned.

Hands of Hope shares pictures of the joy and hope that is brought by the work that we do.  However to begin to make my point on the desperate need for water or clean water,  I am going to show you pictures of a little girl getting water from the harbor.  I will tell you more of the harbor in blogs to come,  but for today imagine your child or family getting their water this way.  I watched as she filled the bottle. She then jumped out of the boat and ran with it filled, to the kiosk where her mom was working.  This harbor is filled with people who get their water the same way day after day.

She is just one little child  among many, who live here and get their water like this.  In these pictures water abounds but it is filthy.  In pictures to come you will see photos where water does not exist.   Tonight, as you fill your glass of water from your sink, refrigerator water  filter or you are pouring it from a pristine bottle, savor your blessings.  Then begin to think about giving so another person could have clean water.   I will let you know how to do this...so again stay tuned. :)


Pure water is the world's first and foremost medicine.  ~Slovakian Proverb

"Those who give one of these little ones a cup of cold water because they are my followers will truly get their reward." Matthew 10:42