Day 5 - Water

Day 5 - Saturday 5th January 2013

Saturday's menu
Breakfast: Porridge (as per usual) with water and 2 plums
Lunch: Cup a Soup
Dinner: Poached egg, Rice and Vegetables with half a pack of strawberry whip for dessert

Today has been another good day. I haven't felt nearly as hungry, and when hunger did appear, I kept it at bay by drinking copious amounts of water.  I enjoyed all of my meals, but have to say I was in no way satisfied by any. Like Oliver Twist I wanted 'MORE'! I have found drinking has helped a lot with this problem. Water and tea have become my allies this week, kindly suppressing the hunger urges when they arise. This got me thinking about how lucky I am to have water constantly available. I just turn on tap, and cool, clean drinking water comes streaming out.

There are millions worldwide who sadly do not have this luxury. In fact they have to walk miles to find and collect water each day, and it is likely that the water they do collect is infested with disease, pollution and sewage. Water is the basic necessity for human life, we can survive weeks without food, but only days with out water.  So there is no choice but to make a daily trip to collect water, water that may well put their whole family at risk of sickness, disease and possibly death. What a desperate situation!

I found a video on youtube that highlights this much better than I  ever could. If you have 5 minutes I  would recommend giving it a watch.

If the link doesn't work click here to be taken directly to the site.

I have noticed over the past week how my energy levels are reducing. After 5 days of living below the line my ability to function normally, has definitely declined. I can't concentrate, I'm tired and find even the most basic of activities more difficult than I  did a week ago. Imagine how challenging it is to walk miles and miles, with little or no energy, feeling tired and hungry, to collect water. You have no choice, do this or don't survive. These people have been living in poverty for years, not days. I can not comprehend how they muster the energy to walk any where or do anything on so little. Their strength, to me, is mind blowing. 

We in the western world take water for granted. One statistic in the above video particularly shocked me; 'An american in a 5 minute shower uses more water than, the average person in a developing country slum uses each day'. Isn't that ridiculous!!!! We waste so much water each day, when some people have walked miles to collect the equivalent of  5 minutes of our shower this morning. How embarrassing! 

We shouldn't feel bad that we have clean water, it's something everyone, everywhere should have. We are blessed to have it. But, we should be ashamed that we take it for granted. I'm not naive enough to think if we stopped wasting water, people in Africa suddenly would have clean drinking water on tap. No, sadly that is not going to happen. But, we can can show some respect by trying to help and make what ever difference we can. 

Tearfund is one of the many global charities working to improve the water facilities for millions across the globe. Working with their global network of church partners, Tearfund is helping communities to build and maintain their own water facilities. They have identified, that addressing the issues of water and sanitations within a community is a cost effective way of releasing pople from poverty. This is because for every £1 spent on water and sanitation, £8 is returned through saved time, increased productivity and reduced health costs.

Tearfund really is an amazing charity, please help them to help more people in extreme poverty. Donate today.

Please click here to sponsor me.

Thank you.