Recently I've been posting a lot about safe water:
- The other day it was this one: Why We Ditched Reverse Osmosis Drinking Water
- And not long ago Jill shared about the Best Water Filter on a Budget & Why You MUST Filter City Water (Flint Water Scare is Our Wake Up Call!)
If you think those in Flint are living a nightmare (and they are), there are some who have it even worse…
Today I'm doing something I've never done here on the blog before, but I think you'll understand why when you read the whole story.
Kent and I first met Father Peter when he and our pastor swapped parishes last summer. Our friends, Joe & Megan, already knew him because his church is by Meg's parent's cottage near Lake Michigan, so they had him, us, and a few other families over for lunch after Mass.
Father Peter told us about his 47-year-old brother who died a few years ago and afterward a foundation was started in his name to help people in the village they're from in Nigeria to build water wells: the Samuel Omogo Foundation. These wells go into areas where people are either using dirty, and poisonous snake infested!, water for drinking, cooking, and bathing, or where people are walking many many miles for water each day.
95% of the donated money goes JUST to building wells.
Recently we were at a SOF event and they were apologizing that it's not 100% of the profits going directly toward building wells, but they explained why: the other 5% is used to hire a nurse who is gathering stats to help them secure some grant money (the stats have shown a 45% decrease in waterborne illnesses in areas with new wells!) and also to hire a well manager, to make sure that these wells are sustainable over the long-term. The well company they use guarantees the wells for 5 years, but after that if they're not managed properly they can break or dry up. This happens a lot with UNICEF and wells from most other organizations. Watch this one-minute video that talks about 12 wells having been built:
However at the event we went to last month, they said it was now up to 74! There are still so many areas without wells though…
So I am asking if you'll join Kent and I and other Kitchen Kop readers and give anything you can toward building another well. My hope is that we raise enough for one well, they are $5500 each, but how cool if we could raise enough for TWO or more wells!
After meeting Father Peter that day at McCall's, Kent and I and a few friends from here in Rockford went together and helped get one well put in late-last year:
Our friends' parents paid for a whole well themselves, and a school in Rockford raised money to buy a well for a school in Nigeria, isn't that awesome?! Recently Kent and I have made conscious decisions to NOT buy things we didn't really need because we'll say to ourselves, “Or we could use that money toward another well…” There are so many different ways you could get involved and try to help raise money to help.
How far do you have to walk to get to a faucet in your home?!
Something about this feels so right, because we're not even getting these people water into their HOMES, like we are all so spoiled to have without thinking about it (oh the things we all take for granted), we're only getting the water closer for them. When they don't have to walk miles every day for this basic necessity, it frees up time which they can then devote to supporting their families.
Click here for a neat video showing Father Peter blessing the wells — the video starts about half-way through — the first half is a slide-show, the second half is the part I love best with the people cheering as they dedicate their new wells!
We've all grown together so much through the years as we've learned how to become healthier and feed our families better, I thought it would be really cool to do something now to help others in need.
If you are willing to donate even $5 or anything on up that you might be able to do, CLICK HERE TO DONATE. Write on your check or in the comments at the online form, “Kitchen Kop”, so we can see when we've raised enough for one (or more!) wells.
Thank you all and God bless!
Susan says
I’m in! Just donated $25. A gallon of raw milk is $15 in Southern CA, so this week I’ll simply go without it, and that’s okay, because my belly may not be full of milk, but my heart will be full of joy knowing that my money will go towards providing something, that really, God meant ALL of us to have: Clean, drinkable water.
Come on, Kitchen Kop readers! What can you give up this week in order to make a donation work in your budget? Even if it’s only the $5 you would spend on that extra box or organic butter, it all helps! 🙂