Turn on the tap, flush the toilet, wash your hands and clean the dishes – all things we do without thinking about them and critical to our health. Just think about what would happen if all those things we take for granted simply disappeared. The dishes would soon pile up and start growing, hands and fingernails would become home to millions of bacteria, tummy cramps and sickness would become part of your daily life. Illness and sickness, however, is daily life to over a third of the world’s population, and this means death for at least 4000 children per day.
We know the stats, almost 900million without safe water, 2.5billion without basic sanitation…but when we put that together with scripture that tells us we are each formed in the likeness of God, that we are equal, that we are brothers and sisters those stats simply cannot be ignored.
Both water and sanitation are focussed on in the Millennium Development Goals, but the sanitation target is off track globally, and the water target is off track in a number of places, most of sub-Saharan Africa in particular. Unless this issue is prioritised now our government’s commitments simply will not be met. This is why we’re calling for action and action now, will you join us?