February 2010

Goal for 2010—to bring clean water to a total of 500,000 people in Zambia

In confronting the reality of poverty and the world water crisis, we often hear statistics that defy our ability to give a human face to the need. Over one billion people in our world experience thirst as part of their everyday lives. Millions of families watch helplessly as water-borne diseases take the lives of their children.  Thousands of communities have no expectation that life will ever be better for them, as sickness and poverty feed the hopelessness that keeps them on the sidelines.

Travel to the developing world as a Westerner, and the face of poverty will most likely confront you in challenging ways. When I was in Africa, I got to know a number of young boys from a village near the base where I stayed. Their poverty caused them to ask for things constantly—a water bottle, a plastic bag, the shoes off my feet. They begged and connived, charmed, and

“Gladys” Photo by  Terry Ohmart  Zambia 2009

threatened, but at the end of the day usually had to walk away with just a hug and a smile. I often left my interactions with them wondering what kind of men they (and millions just like them throughout Africa) would grow up to be and what the future would hold for them.
When we look more closely at the places where these are not mere statistics, but the reality of life, we begin to realize that behind the numbers are individual stories of hope waiting to emerge.
Take Zambia, for example. It is not a nation prone to natural disasters, has no major ongoing wars or conflicts, and is considered a “peace haven” in southern Africa by USAID. Despite this, it has one of the highest percentages of people living below the poverty line in the world, and the life expectancy is a tragic 37 years. Seeds of Hope works in partnership with organizations from around the world to empower Zambians to combat the preventable causes of extreme    need in their communities, beginning by bringing clean water.
If poverty has a face, so too does transformation. It is found in the children now healthy enough to pursue their education, women released from the burden of spending hours collecting water and freed to participate in income-producing activities, and families rejoicing as they reap the newly abundant harvest of their fields.
We hope to add our own number to the statistics on poverty and water need. That is, that by the end of 2010, half a million Africans will have received hope and clean water through Seeds of Hope, and begin reversing the downward cycle of poverty in their nations.