Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is a great day to be grateful for those who mean the most to you and to be thankful for everything that we're fortunate to have. Tonight at 8PM on CNN, 10 people just like you and me will be showcased for what they're doing to change the world. Here's a video of my mentor, Mr. Doc Hendley who was on the show last year speaking on safe drinking water and other topics. Water you doing to make a difference in this world?

What Your Money Can Do

I'm not one to ask or beg but the only way this issue is going to be solved is with money. I'm making absolutely no money off of anything donated and I'll upload how your money is being put to use frequently. Here are a few idea's of how your money can make a serious and lasting impact.

-$1 provides safe drinking water to a child for 40 days.
-$7 treats over 350 liters of water.
-$10 provides a filter for a whole family.
-$15 provides a purifying instrument.
-$69 provides over 10,000 purification tablets which would make 50,000 liters of clean water.
-$75 can provide a frequent source of water of 4,300 liters in an area like Phnom Penh where it rains a lot but using purified rain water.
-$100 makes a a small community system pump mainly used for irrigating crops.
-$250 creates a pump system for a community.
-$500 installs a water pump which eliminates long walks for women and children to fetch water and provides a safe and constant supply.














The donate tab is next to the section next to help me if you want to use a credit card. If you're in South Jersey you can meet up with me or I'll come to your house to get the money.

Thank You Everyone,
Christian

My Travels Abroad

I spent a decent amount of time volunteering in the townships outside of Cape Town specifically, Masiphumelele's Ukhanyo Primary School and came to notice that there was only 1 little old and rusty pipe to provide the water for the whole school. Since then, I've become an advocate even more than ever for access to safe water worldwide and am going to take this platform next semester to Phnom Penh, Cambodia on a full blown campaign. Decades of conflict have seriously damaged Phnom Penh's water supply infrastructure and today only about 35% of the people get its water from improvised drinking water sources. The numbers are gruesome and the statistics are horrific but people must realize the impact water has. Over 10% of kids die before their 1st Birthday due to water borne illnesses in Cambodia,rural sanitation is at under 8% so people dispose of their waste anywhere which is quickly ruining the water they need to depend on. With that being said, I intend to develop outlines for teachers to use for a 2 to 3 day seminar in school to teach kids about water and in after school hours teach those in the villages the same. By using hand-soap in schools and in public we can decrease dirrheal diseases by over 40%. At the seminars, jobs can be offered for those willing to dig new wells that can be used for safe and un-contaminated water. With the right funding, we can build a well and have test kits to make sure the water is clean and for those who really need immediate water in the most desperate areas, we can hand out purification tablets which makes contaminated water, safe in less than a 1/2 hour. If we can develop more wells, we can save local women a lot of time who usually walk 6 kilometers to fetch water a day. After we see improvements, we can talk to the farmers about improving their systems and how much water they can use a day. I'll be working on this project 8 hours a day, 6 days a week for 4 months so the work is very serious for a very serious topic. After I return home from Phnom Penh, I'll be home for about a month before I head off to 1 of Cambodia's neighbor's, Vang, Vieng, Laos for 2 months doing similar work and creating UBelong's very first after school sports program!




Left: Lone pipe in SA for school, Middle: School "Toilet", Right: Khmer child pumping water

What the Future of this Blog will Bring

Before I start off my 1st post, I'd like to thank my mentor, Mr. Cedric Hodgeman, for the knowledge and opportunities he's given me. Also special thanks to Lynsey Allen, Theo Molestone, Dr. Raul Roman and everyone else who's helped me out along the way. All the statistics on this site are from reliable sources such as the UN, UNICEF, WHO, drinkingwater.org. If you question a statistic, I'll send you a link.

This blog will give you the opportunity to...
-Follow me as I embark abroad to provide people with un-contaminated water and the knowledge behind the topic.
-See where your donations actually go and how they're being used.
-Stay up to date with progress worldwide on this issue.
-Get involved both domestically and internationally to help this cause.
-Become knowledgeable on 1 of the most important Human Rights issues affecting us today.

As usual,
Christian