Monday, September 10, 2012

H(ope) 2 O


I had an interesting and not entirely pleasant experience last week that I'd like to share with you. A friend had come over to talk to me about something important, and we were sitting in the living room chatting. During our rather long conversation, she excused herself to use the bathroom a couple of times, asking me in both instances why our water was turned off. Not at all concerned, I answered that my husband was probably outside fixing sprinklers or something.

Just before she left, my friend used the facilities once more and remarked that there was still no water. Puzzled now, and since several hours had passed, I went to the kitchen to see if the faucet would turn on in there. Nothing.

Of course, the not-very-funny joke was on me. Our water had been turned off by the water company that very afternoon. It seems I had paid them the wrong amount (oops), and their subsequent warning went unnoticed because we had been on vacation. The post office was still holding our mail, and we hadn't found time to pick it up yet. Simply put, our goose was cooked. We had no water; the water company was closed until the next day, and we were going to spend the next 24 hours waiting for relief.

In light of water shortages in third world countries, I'm almost ashamed to say how sorry for ourselves Dave and I were. We had to flush the toilet with buckets of water from the pool; we couldn't bathe or shower, wash our hands, or brush our teeth. My hair was dirty...and so was my laundry, to say nothing of the breakfast and lunch dishes. Suddenly, water held new value for us. We saw it for what it really was...precious and desirable beyond all else. In fact, both of us agreed that we would far rather have lost gas and electrical power than what we now understood was the most prized commodity of all: Water. It was liquid gold, and we could hardly wait to have it at our fingertips once more.

At first I thought it was merely ironic that we lost our water at the same time my friend (Caroline) at Salsa Pie was involving herself in water.org's efforts to raise money for water in Haiti, but on second thought I realized coincidence is highly over-rated in life. I decided my brief experience with waterless living was a providential push for me to join the crusade for water myself. And so I did.

Are you aware that donating just $25 will provide one person with water for his or her entire lifetime? In other words, I give up one dinner at Appleby's and someone across the world never goes thirsty again. I sacrifice a date night to the movies with my husband and another parent's child survives to adulthood and beyond. I turn down my air conditioning a point or two this month and a brand new baby has all the breast milk she needs from a mother who is no longer too dehydrated to produce an adequate supply. What on earth would keep me from doing this? When my sacrifice is so negligible and the rewards are so great, why would I not jump on board this effort and save some lives?

If your heart answers this question the same way mine does, please visit Caroline's blog, tell her I sent you, and make a donation. It isn't every day we have a chance to save another person's life. And maybe, by doing so, we can even save our own.

"He that seeketh to save his life shall lose it: and
he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."
Matthew 10:39 (JST)

15 comments:

Gail said...

We are so blessed we often take things for granted.

Living in the country, I have water, light, heat and even refridgeration(spring water) available naturally and never think much about it. Power's out, light a lamp.

I can't imagine what would ever happen in a large city area but what is even sadder is not to know it at all.

I'm in.

jen said...

There are no coincidences, my friend.

Heading over now.

Grandma Honey said...

I just tried to donate but apparently her page is down. I will try later. Thank you for your words. You told it all so well.

Susan Anderson said...

Thanks, Jill. I just checked and the page is working fine now.

=)

Caroline said...

Thank you so much, Sue for sharing your story with us and for participating in this campaign. It's close to my heart. Gil and I have family living in Venezuela (a country facing a water crisis) who are affected by a shortage of supply and poor water quality.

Your story touched me because I've experienced the same thing and I appreciate you reaching out to your readers about such an important issue. You are such a good friend.

Also--I have noticed the water.org site is down. They are smart cookies over there and I trust it will be up and running very soon. Let's hope that so many people rushed over to donate that is the reason the site crashed! ;)

Thank you again and thank you to all of your readers. Your donations REALLY will change lives.

:) Caroline

Caroline said...

Ps. I just checked and the site and donations page is up again!! Yay!

yaya said...

When we lose electric we lose water because we have a well that requires a pump to make it go...and we've gone for as long as a week without water. I've learned that I can take a cold shower with bottled water and also can use pool water to flush! I also appreciate my water in food storage! We take many things, like turning on a faucet to get what we want,for granted. This is a good charity! Thanks for sharing.

karen said...

This is a wonderful charity. I donated to them a Christmas or two ago and they do great work. Leave it to Caroline to organize this!

Unknown said...

I feel the same about water. It is the most precious thing on this planet. I'm so glad you are making people aware of this important charity.

Terra said...

it is so easy to push away the thoughts of how hard others have it. Not unlike your water story I went without AC for a week or so in the extreme heat this summer and I was a cry baby...Ho hum, until I reminded myself how blessed I was to have it and how hard others have it and I had to suck it up and make it work. Lovely post Sue

anitamombanita said...

The things we take for granted... reminds me of the work that Brook Dorff was doing in Hyderabad, India too. (http://www.indiegogo.com/borewells)... there are so many people in the world in need and so many simple ways we can help. Thanks for posting this. :)

leigh hewett said...

Thanks so much for your donation and promoting our cause. Your story really brought it home for me. Thanks for being such a kind-hearted soul.

Amy said...

And yet water is wasted so much! It makes me a little angry to see businesses watering their lawns at high noon. It really is liquid gold. What a way to put this into perspective, Sue!

alpinekleins said...

Wow . . . great perspective . . . excuse me while I go donate an stock up, I'm running a little bit on the low side :)

Kristin

Tonya said...

What a great cause! Water is such a precious gift.