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.

It’s raining. I hate the rain.

Date: Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Time: 32:14

Distance: 3 miles speed run on Yonsei Track plus 1 mile

Date: Monday, April 13, 2009

Time: Lost Track

Distance: 4 miles—16 laps on Yonsei track

Date: Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Time: 1:20:20

Distance: 7+ miles to the river and back

Slogging through the rain just to get in a few miles is NOT an incentive for me to keep up with the training program. But it does mean a work slowdown with the project, so, I must choose between not having the time, or… well, the rain. I love the rain (attitude adjustment there).

The run to the river is chilly and wet, but does help clear the head of all those niggling details of construction and moves me to a new place. Seoul needs this shower. Korea is becoming dry. Way too dry. Water is life. Yet one billion people do not have access to safe water, and 2.6 billion people live without proper sanitation. Water-borne illness is the second highest cause of childhood death in the world. When water is unsafe and sanitation non-existent, water can kill. Providing safe water and sanitation to millions of affected children and their families is one way to help end poverty. How? By supporting efforts to distribute oral rehydration salts wherever children are suffering from illness and deadly dehydration caused by unsafe water, distributing hygiene kits during a crisis to help children and their families keep diseases like cholera at bay, training teachers to educate children about safe water and proper sanitation and building pipelines to bring water to remote villages.

I like to think that I am doing this to help children survive. Almost 10 million children die needlessly every year. They come from families who exist without clean water and sanitation. They have not been vaccinated against childhood illness. They are not protected against malaria. They do not receive enough nourishment to fight malnutrition. They are often affected by AIDS. They do not survive without your help. When I say I am running to end poverty, I am being a part of a global network of individuals and organizations seeking ways to help children survive, to protect children from abuse, give them an education, so that all children lead a healthy, humane, and dignified life.

The water bottle I picked up at the GS Mart for 500 won quenches my thirst. It’s important to stay hydrated. I head back toward my new home in Yonhidong, now barely aware of how sopping wet I am. I am very aware that what “quiches” my thirst could “save” the life of a child. I invite you to join me in running to end poverty one child, one family, one village at a time.