Imagine handing your child a glass of water -- it's brown, full of garbage, bacteria, things you wouldn't step in, let alone drink. This is the reality of millions of parents and children across the globe. Millions of people around the world are lacking basic necessities that we couldn't even picture living without.
It really pains me to imagine all the children around my son's age who are suffering for reasons that are completely preventable. They don't get the vaccines most of us take for granted. Or they don't have enough nutritious food to get them through the day. Or (and this one really gets me) the only water they have access to makes them sick, even kills them.
No matter what your thoughts are regarding health care reform -- we live in a country where fresh and clean water is readily accessible to all, a fact that we tend to take for granted. Becoming a father has made me hypersensitive to childrens' issues and has opened my mind to thinking what the world will be like when my son grows up. So, I became involved with UNICEF's Tap Project, which takes place every year during World Water Week, because of its simplicity and its scope. I'm proud to be part of a project that sheds light on how easy it is to provide clean water to people in need right now and for years to come.
For just $1, you can help kids get the clean water they need just by going out to eat. Go to a restaurant that participates in the Tap Project, and simply donate just a buck for the tap water you normally drink for free. It's such an easy way to do some good. That one dollar can provide a child with clean water for 40 days. Do it now, though -- the program lasts through Saturday, March 27.
Thousands of volunteers have worked to recruit restaurants and they're also holding community water walks, dinner parties, fundraisers and concerts. They're mobilizing any way they can to raise money and to spread the word about this global crisis -- more than 884 million people do not have access to clean water, and almost half of them are children.
Then there are the restaurant and bar folks. Owners, chefs, managers, hosts, waiters and bartenders are going out of their way to make the Tap Project a success. And I'm really proud that Angels & Kings, the bars I co-own in New York and Chicago, are participating as well.
This year, money raised through the Tap Project will support UNICEF water programs in the Central African Republic, Guatemala, Togo, Vietnam and Haiti. There are kids who walk miles a day to fetch water that still makes them sick. UNICEF is doing whatever it takes to help all children get access to clean, safe water. The money will pay for lifesaving equipment like wells, pumps, rainwater-harvesting systems, cheap but effective water filters, and much more. It will mean that more kids will grow up without needless suffering and that more kids will grow up period.
As this year's UNICEF Tap Project Spokesperson, I can't thank all those involved enough for giving time and cash to improve and save the lives of children. It's easy to ask people to step up and make a difference but it's also easy to look away and say change is impossible. Getting clean water to these people isn't impossible and making a difference isn't that hard.
To get involved and inspired, visit tapproject.org or listen to Tap Radio.
Robin Madel: World Water Week and Urban Water Infrastructure
the sooner they figure out how to take some of that dirty brown water, and distill it, pour it through a filter, maybe even chlorinate it for good measure, the sooner they'll be water-independent of people claiming
to be trying to 'help' them, while earning fairly sizeable salaries, and driving REALLY nice cars. Frankly, I think the UN is part of the problem, here. Distillation of water is not some arcane, exotic science limited to three bald-headed guys in a locked basement at MIT or someplace. Nature does it every day, it's how clouds are formed, well, evaporation, whatever you want to call it, it separates all the gunk out of water, which makes it light and fluffy and potable and stuff. 2/3-3/4 of the earth's surface is covered in water. Traditionally, people rely on rainwater and groundwater to solve their problems, but in arid areas where that just doesn't happen, engineers need to apply themselves accordingly. But, it's nothing beyond the high school graduate level, nor do you need billions and billions of dollars to accomplish what needs done. What is needed is common sense, basic work ethic, common materials, and people that are smart enough to hold a magnifying glass in daylight without hurting themselves...
Millions is a 2004 British film, directed by Academy Award winning director Danny Boyle, and starring Alexander Etel, Lewis McGibbon, and James Nesbitt. The screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce adapted his novel while the film was in the process of being made. The novel Millions was subsequently awarded the Carnegie Medal.