World Water Day
Image via RNS/Fredrick Nzwili
The drought in the Sahel — a region that forms a dry belt across northern Africa — has left millions without any water to drink, and is being linked to three deaths in recent days in Kenya, due to consumption of unsafe water.
“There are no drops to reduce, recycle, or reuse,” said professor Jesse Mugambi, of the University of Nairobi, who added that many in the region are spending World Water Day “praying for drops of rain to quench their thirst and that of their livestock.”
Each of us has one hundred times as many water molecules in our bodies than the sum of all other molecules combined. Today is World Water Day, a good day to reflect on how this symbol that blesses, sanctifies, and purifies in our rituals, but too often, does not do the same in daily life.
World on water, violetkaipa, Shutterstock.com
Today is World Water Day – an opportunity to celebrate the amazing H20 that we have the privilege to enjoy every day. It is also a day to remember and campaign on behalf of the 780 million people who lack access to clean water across the globe, and the 2.5 billion without access to a basic toilet.
Here are some of the best World Water Day links from around the world:
World Vision offers an inspiring story of how life-changing access to clean water can be for people in the developing world.
UK-based Christian international development organization Tearfund have worked on issues of water and sanitation for many years and offer their thoughts on why today is an important day for all of us.
Photo courtesy of Living Waters for the World.
This Thursday, March 22nd, is World Water Day. The April 2012 issue of Sojourners includes Ched Myers’ 'Everything Will Live Where the River Goes', a Bible study on water, God, and redemption.
The following hymn celebrates our need for clean water and the Living Water:
Once a Woman Seeking Water
BEACH SPRING 8.7.8.7. D (“God, Whose Giving Knows No Ending”)
Once a woman seeking water at a well not far from home
Met a thirsty, waiting stranger from a people not her own.
Would she give a drink of water and respond to human need?
Could she know the joy and wonder she, the giver, would receive?...