April 2016 – Give Drink to the Thirsty
For our April work of mercy we return to the corporal works list.
Did you know that women and children in Africa and Asia walk an average of 3.7 miles/day just to collect water? Are you aware that a child dies every 90 seconds from a water-related illness (that’s 5,400 kids EVERY DAY)? Or that 1 out of 3 schools lack access to safe water and sanitation? And yet we have the enormous blessing of being able to walk into our kitchen and drink as many glasses of clean, safe water as we want, whenever we want.
This is a horrible tragedy that clearly defies our belief that everyone should enjoy equally the blessings of this Earth, a gift from God to us all. It’s also a tragedy that can be extremely difficult to address on an individual level. While there are some local, national and international agencies working to improve this situation, it can be hard to know what we can do. What isn’t hard is making small changes in our daily lives that collectively can have a major impact: turn the water off while you shower, shave or brush your teeth, buy and use high efficiency appliances, and don’t water your lawn as much (or at all).
Check out this website for more ideas – http://www.wikihow.com/Save-Water – and pray for those in our world without clean water.
