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The Gift of Water

Most of us turn on the faucet and expect clean, plentiful, refreshing water to flow. We don’t think about how much we use to drink, bathe, cook, and even keep our yards green and lush. However, in much of the world, water is scarce. More than 2 billion people globally lack access to clean drinking water.

Gathering water is often the job of girls and women. From the time a girl is old enough to walk and carry a bucket, she is sent off to the nearest river or pond to scoop up water and bring it home. Often this task will take much of the day, leaving little time to go to school. Regrettably, the water she does bring home usually contains contaminants.

Women and girls worldwide spend 200 million hours every day collecting water. Walking to a pond or river is often dangerous because it is also where wild animals gather. Additionally, carrying heavy buckets can be harmful to a young girl’s physical development. The buckets of water brought back to the home must be used for drinking, cooking, and bathing. Rarely is there enough for all the family’s needs.

When nonprofit organizations talk about the importance of bringing water to villages, they are not just talking about convenience. One of the leading causes of death among children worldwide is dehydration, often caused by diarrhea from contaminated water or poor sanitation; and lack of water means good hygiene is difficult, leading to additional health problems.

In many parts of the world, life is surprisingly like biblical times, when water was a scarce and precious resource. That’s why water imagery is often used in the Bible. It immediately communicated to people who understood the daily need to gather water and how the lack of it—or even spilling it—was a significant cause of concern.

The next time you turn on your faucet, take a moment to thank God for the gift of clean, available water. Then consider how helping bring water to those in need is not just a matter of convenience but of life and death.