The Power of Wet

A Korean Water Clock

On a recent run, I found myself craving water.  Not quite in the pains (or pangs) of dehydration, but rather a desire to drink deeply. Since I was on the Little Trace close to Sonic, I swung by. The kids who work there know me as the old fart that comes huffing and puffing up to the door begging. A tall cup of cold aqua was waiting, along with a smile and a friendly tease from one of the young’uns. They know I like tap water. I tell them we have the best water in the world. It’s true!

Last winter our fair city entered the International Water Olympics and won the bronze medal against a field of 77 waters from all over the place. (If you don’t believe me look it up--http://www.ci.independence.mo.us/Story.aspx?id=2896)

For 130 years Easter Jackson County folks have been blessed with water supplied from 41 wells located at the Courtney Bend Water Treatment Plant. The wells receive water from the Missouri River Alluvial Aquifer. And it is GOOD.

However, much of the world, while having access to water, has to deal with polluted, diseased, dirty water. And children die every day because there is no clean water source. Diseases from unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. 90% of the 30,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and unhygienic living conditions are of children under five years old. Many of these diseases are preventable. The UN predicts that one tenth of the global disease burden can be prevented simply by improving water supply and sanitation.

Today, I leave for Thailand where I will meet children who have faced such conditions. They come from village in northern Thailand to attend Welfare Schools. Their surroundings are vastly improved. But unless there is additional intervention, most are back in their village by the time they are 15—as street kids—or worse—as sex slaves or forced labor. Sustainable Hope International is trying to change that. Working with School administrators and government programs, the folks at Sustainable Hope are changing lives one child at a time. How? By offering scholarships for continued education. Education that would not be possible without the support of groups like Sustainable Hope.

Instead of returning to a life of poverty and despair, Sustainable Hope gives a young person to the opportunity to dream and grow, and some will even become engineers—to improve the quality of water. In their village and the villages around them.

Korean Light House off Jeju Island

With safe water children become healthy, and strong, and curious. They are free to pursue new opportunities and improve their families’ lives. Kids can earn their education and build the future of their communities.

Huff and Puff

Running… ok, ok, barely walking, up that last hill before completing my nine mile long run outing had me huffing and puffing like the crazy wolf in the children’s story. Yes. I have lost weight. Yes. I am getting my running legs back. Yes. I even work out at the gym (well, when it rains…sometimes) But do you think my time improves (meaning speed). Nope. What the heck is it with getting older and slowing down? Just because 40 is behind me, (ok 50) (…alright, 60) doesn’t mean the body has to go slower, does it? At my present pace the street sweepers will cross the finish line before I do.

I know. Patience. Perseverance. Discipline. And race day (June 2) will see me fly! In some ways, that has been the experience this last year of Ken Brookens as he has explored and explained and engaged a wide variety of sources in Thailand to serve at-risk and orphaned children in a responsible and sustainable way.

Students from Chiang Mai, Thailand

Exploring the opportunities (of lack of) for education for youth in Thailand can be quite discouraging. For thousands of at-risk children in rural areas, the opportunity for an education beyond eighth grade is minimal and the opportunity to pursue higher education is practically non-existent. More likely their future is one of human slavery, prostitution, unskilled hard labor, early teen pregnancy, subsistence living, and an early death. The cycle of poverty goes on and on and on… Encouraging youth to learn; providing an incentive to stay in school; offering a scholarship for higher education; all break the cycle of poverty, changes the life of a child forever, ultimately changes the living conditions of the family, and lastly, gives back to the community a leader who influences the whole village for good. Ken has seen this miracle at work in the lives of youth in Thailand and is committed to making it a reality for more.

Explaining his passion and mission to school principals, government officials, community leaders, and business professionals has taken Ken into Ministry offices in Bangkok, welfare schools in Chiang Mai, legal offices and cafes and hotels and stores everywhere in between. All that explaining has made Sustainable Hope International a government recognized NGO in Thailand. All that explaining has generated excitement, commitment, anticipation, and opportunity in Chiang Mai, Chiang Dao, and Khon Kaen. All that explaining has opened doors in Independence and Jackson County.

Sustainable Hope International has engaged the services of professionals and volunteers in churches, service organizations, community groups, and educational circles. Most importantly, Sustainable Hope has engaged the imaginations of children—hundreds of children--and encouraged them to dream and reach and excel.

My early morning running team in Chiang Mai.
It was already 100 degrees and I was the only one in shorts!

And to do all of that, there has been a lot of huffing and puffing. Not to blow houses down, but to build
up hopes and dreams in a sustainable way in the hearts of at-risk children and in the minds of those who work with orphaned children.

I will run the Hospital Hill Half Marathon, huffing and puffing up all seven hills, to raise funds for Sustainable Hope International. Join me. Partner with me by giving to the cause—the power—the miracle  of education in breaking the cycle of poverty in Thailand. Join me in supporting Sustainable Hope International.

Malawi--Running to end poverty, one child, one family, one village at a time.

In Malawi, a small country in southern Africa, there is no infrastructure here to process clean water from streams and creeks. And without sanitation systems, toilets, and plumbing the waste from people and animals in the forests eventually ends up in the water.

Chiwa was only 7, the oldest girl of the youngest four children, but strong enough to go to the creek everyday with other children from the village. She hoped to go to school this year, but then, who would get the family water? Her family needed it for washing, cooking, drinking. She was the one to go.

So four miles there and back, carrying the heavy water… Read more at http://www.outreach-international.org/site/PageServer?pagename=what_stories_family

Running to end poverty, one child, one family, one village at a time with Outreach International and a partner: