claudsspot: In Water There is Bacteria

Since I am pretty certain that Benjamin Franklin never visited the Western Provence of Zambia, this quote must have been generated from his understanding of the great need of good, clean water.

Today is Kara's birth date, October 17. A bitter sweet date. She came and she is gone. No one could have ever told me that on this date in 2013, I would be pleading for water, clean water in a most remote part of the world because of her coming into this world. This date from my perspective should be celebrating her favorite day of the year along side of her.

Kara, a severe diabetic for 15 years taught me the critical need for water, if life is to continue. A simple swallow of lake water while swimming, a 'clean lake', put her suppressed immune system into crisis, on the brink of death and in ICU for several days. She was most blessed to be taken to an incredible hospital (very far from our home), she had team of doctors who fought to keep her alive and medicine to help fight the germs that ravaged her fragile body.

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In the Western Provence of Zambia, water is a luxury, clean, fresh water a rare option even during the rainy season. People bathe, drink, cook and wash in the same stream or bucket. Germs that cause dysentery, typhoid fever, cholera are in every cup of water that is not taken from a clean well source. They become too sick to work! The mom's can't care for their families! The kids cannot go to school! The mom's are sick too. They do not have medication to cure the illnesses! The truly sad reality is that they do not have to drink bad water, we can help. You can help!

Today's blog is in memory of my daughter Kara Dawn Erickson. Her life was short but profound. She taught me many things about life, living and death. Traveling to Zambia and seeing how hard it is to get water, then harder to get clean water, and realizing that we can do something to help those who cannot help themselves, I snapped.

They must have clean water!

Kara's legacy for us as a family, will be to get clean water to as many people as we can. Many parts of the world need water. However, I am focusing on one tiny, remote corner of the world that most people choose to ignore. I can monitor where the water goes. I can see and have seen the health and benefits it brings. I know that every penny raised for a well, will go to a well. I know a young girl like the one above, does not have to die because of bad water! I have seen first hand, in two short years what clean water will do for a village (800-1000 people) and how it changed their lives!

Hands of Hope (www.handsofhope.org) wants to place 10 wells by years end. The people in 10 villages will have a chance to live and thrive. One simple well costs $5000. $5.00 per person is all that it costs to keep them with fresh, clean water. $5.00. That is one Starbucks drink forgone for another to live. Giving is that simple. Would you like to remember a loved one with a well? Each time one from a village goes to get water they are reminded that someone cared about them.

I must make this message heard. These people must be given a chance in life and clean healthy water is where it begins. To ignore a need, going about the business of life pretending that what

I do does not make a difference, is to live a lie.