Intercession: Clean Water

Wednesday morning of this week during our intercession time, we decided to focus on the Clean Water Crisis. The staff led us in an interactive for of intersession..giving us a glimpse of a day in the life of someone with no clean water. After giving some statistics they had us get into groups of three and told us we must be silent during all of this. With our group we were given a bucket and followed a staff member up around the building to distant shed where we filled our buckets with water. The entire time during a walk the groups were told to say "one, two, three, one, two three" and continually count and say nothing else but "one, two, three". As the groups starting coming back we were told to just dump out bucket of water out. My heart starting burning..seeing everyone dump out their full buckets of perfectly clean water..wasting it. when children across the world are drinking muddy pond water. I could feel myself interceding on the inside. My stomach knoted up and my heart turned angry. Kids are dying from lack of clean healthy water. what can I do?? what can we do?? As we gathered back together they told us how every 3 seconds a child DIES from not having clean water and the effects of it. so as we were walking, everytime we counted to three a child died. It was such a heartbreaking number..and do think of it happening as I was saying three. They then had us drink a cup of dirty water..it had chunks in it and I gagged a few times..it was so difficult to put down. but there are people who go through this EVERY day. Except their water is full of mud and bacteria while ours was only full of nasty edible stuff that isnt usually put together. For only 10 dollars a child can have clean water for a WEEK. and We spend 10 dollars on little minuet things. After this time of walking in their shoes and learning these statistics we gather together to pray over the global isssue. I encourage you as well to think of these children and families without clean water. Maybe think twice about how long you let the water run and how long of a shower you take. and pray for this issue throughout the week.

Some Statistics I found:

• At any one time, half of the world's hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from water-borne diseases.
• Over one-third of the world's population has no access to sanitation facilities.
• In developing countries, about 80% of illnesses are linked to poor water and sanitation conditions.
• 1 out of every 4 deaths under the age of 5 worldwide is due to a water-related disease.
• In developing countries, it is common for water collectors, usually women and girls, to have to walk several kilometers every day to fetch water. Once filled, pots and jerry cans weigh as much as 20kg (44lbs).
• Average person in Africa uses 4-5 liters a day..average American uses 80-100 gallons