“If I don’t have to fetch water, I will study, dance, and sing with my extra time,” says Lucy Marwa in the “Free to Dream” video produced by Living Water International earlier this year. Lucy is a 13-year-old girl who lives in Ogwedhi Village in Kisumu, Kenya. Lucy talks about waking every day at 6 a.m. to get water for he family before she could go to school. Lucy speaks of the sickness she has endured as a child living with unclean water-cases of cholera and diarrhea. Lucy expresses her dreams of having a job and helping her family. What she wants out of her daily life is to be able to sleep, study, dance, sing, and live without a disease. It is a great tragedy that one of the most easily solvable, yet most pervasive problems worldwide stands in the way of these simple hopes for millions of children, adults, and communities each day.
Living Water International is at the forefront of bringing water and hope to communities like Lucy’s village across the globe. Right now, at least 663 million people are living without access to clean water. Since its founding, Living Water has completed 16,247 water projects in countries like El Salvador, Kenya, India, Uganda, and so many more. The water crisis is reducing slowly but definitely. Last year, Reagan Herber who is an executive member of the Wells Project at Texas A&M got to attend Living Water's annual gala where Lucy was able to talk about her story. Reagan said, "It was awesome to see someone face-to-face who had been so drastically changed by clean water. Her dreams had become real possibilities." Clean water gave Lucy the ability to dream and live without the incredible hardship she had before, and to stand on a stage before thousands of people asking them to give the same opportunities to others like her.
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To aid the mission of Living Water, the Wells Project was started at Texas A&M University in 2007. The 10 Days campaign was born sometime after and has raised $125,000 since 2010. Much of the difference in the water crisis is being made by college students across the U.S. through the 10 Days. This initiative asks people to sacrifice the luxury of enjoying beverages other than water for 10 days. Unlike millions of people in other countries, most people across America can access water easily and without cost. The money a student would have spent on drinks like coffee, tea, soda, and alcohol for 10 days is saved and donated to the cause so that Living Water can fund water wells in communities who otherwise would not have access to clean water. The Wells Project is now an active student organization on over 20 campuses across the United States.
This week, Wells Project at Texas A&M is gearing up for the 2015 10 Days campaign with a promotional banner holding around campus, a kick-off concert on November 8th with free coffee and live music, and the official launch on November 9th. Students across Texas A&M’s campus and campuses across the nation will be drinking water to give water to those in need.
