Summary: There are more than 800 million people worldwide that do not have access to clean drinking water. Over 200 million women have wasted hours upon hours each day collecting as much clean drinking water they can. Both the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and The Coca-Cola Company are trying their hardest to find new ways to supply clean drinking water to the millions that lack it each day. Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) are improving the way less fortunate live by investing in clean water and sanitation. This leads the improvements in health, school attendance, productivity and entrepreneurship for children in Africa and other third-world countries. $793 million has been invested into WASH projects by the MCC in nine countries. This investment obviously demonstrates the demand for clean drinking water if they are spending that much money on it. MCC CEO, Daniel Yohannes says, “There is a link between MCC’s mission to reduce poverty through economic growth and our commitment to expand access to water and sanitation for the world’s poor. The bottom line is that improved access to clean water and reliable sanitation improves lives. We can’t afford not to invest in water and sanitation. True to the MCC principle of country-owned, led-, designed-, and implemented development solutions, more and more of our partners worldwide are seeking investments in water and sanitation.”
Opinion/Reflection: I think the fact that there are more than 800 million people in the world that do not have access to clean drinking water is a very appalling statistic. To think that someone could go through their day without a drink of clean water is very sad. Many Americans do not live like this, and I am grateful, but it is awful that people have to live like that. Although people do live like this, there are always people willing to help. What MCC and The Coca-Cola Company did to help these people was very kind. It is crazy to think that MCC spent $793 million on investments into the WASH project. This really goes to show the need for clean water in other areas of the world.
Questions:
1. Do you think you would put all of your time and effort into helping people who lack clean drinking water?
2. Why aren’t we informed about this in the media very often because it is clearly a big issue?
3. What are some ways you can help people who lack clean drinking water?
4. Do you think this could happen to America soon? Why or why not?
Opinion/Reflection: It's really sad to see that there are so many people without water while so many of us are able to obtain water so easily. I'm glad so many organizations are helping these people. Sometimes I take the water we have for granted. I never knew the fact about 200 million women waste their time collecting as much clean drinking water they can get. I hope we find a way to purify more water but it will be hard to do. The fact that they spent $793 million dollars to help the less fortunate shows a lot. I hope the organizations continue to help others.
ReplyDeleteExpansion:
http://waterfortheages.org/international-water-organizations/
I found a website listing a bunch of organizations that also help to purify water. I never knew that there were this many organizations that did this. This makes me happy to see this. I hope this helps to reduce the number of people who don't have access to clean water.
Opinion/Reflection: I completely agree with Jen when she says it's appalling. It is so aweful to know that many people out there go without clean water almost everyday. It is so great to hear that organizations are trying to help out people in need. To know that 793 million dollars are being put to help them is such a great thing. I can personally relate to this topic. Last summer I went to a leadership camp down in Villanova. We did an activity where for dinner one night people got put in 1 of 3 categories; poor, not as poor, and rich. The poor ate rice, the not as poor had rice with beans and the rich got a huge meal all with nice food. I was put in the categeory as poor and only had rice for dinner. Doing that activity really made me realize that millions of people every day eat this. Keep in mind I had breakfast and lunch but some people maybe only get a bowl of 2 of rice everyday. The activity was just a simulation of how bad some people have it everyday. I can really relate the activity to this article because some people get maybe a bucket of water each day but it might be contaminated. The activity I did really opened my eyes on how bad people have it everyday so to know that people are helping is such a great thing. Having rice and dirty water each day is a horrible thing and I am glad that people are helping these people in need.
ReplyDeleteAnswer to question 4: I think anything is possible so I think it could happen to us. I did some research on it and America is already starting to run out of water. Severe water shortages have become a occured from Georgia to Texas to Nevada to California. Reserves continue to dwindle as public officials try to find some solutions. Americans uses 150 gallons of water per day while people in the U.K. use 40 gallons and people in China use 22 gallons. So not only could we start to have contaminated water but lose our water completely if we keep being so wasteful.
http://thisistheendoftheworldasweknowit.com/archives/water-crisis-we-cant-live-without-water-and-the-united-states-is-quickly-running-out-of-it
I was extremely surprised when I read that 800 million people do not have access to clean water. It makes me realize how we take advantage of having clean water. I am very glad to hear that these companies are trying hard to help out people in need. And over 200 million women have to search for clean water every day? People around the world really need to step in and help these people. I really hope that these companies continue to help and maybe more can join in. If i lived in conditions like this, I would want people to help me.
ReplyDeleteAnswer to question 1: Personally, I do not think I would put all my effort into helping because I am still young. Of course, I would help them but I would not put my whole life out there to do it. Maybe, as I get older I could invest more time into helping people get clean water.
I was suprised that over 800 million people in the world do not have access to clean drinking water. I couldn't imagine not having a clean water source. We take for granted that we have water at our fingertips. 200 million women have spent hours apon hours searching for clean water. I couldn't imagine how hard it is trying to find water for your family. We are very lucky. I am glad that people are helping this problem. I think it is amazing that the MCC put 793 million dollars on the WASH project. I hope to see improvements in those numbers and these companies to keep doing a great job.
ReplyDeleteAnswer to question three: Some ways we can help people that dont have clean water is create and organization to raise money. That money could be used to buy machines to clean water. Also we could use that money to provide places of need with water. This would be a great help to some people but a lot more work has to be put in to solve this.