Friday, March 23, 2012

Celebrating World Water Day


You turn a faucet and there it is … pure, safe water. You don’t think about it, you just accept it as a normal part of everyday life.

But for the 1.1 billion people in the developing world who lack access to safe water supplies water is a very precious commodity. Pure water is needed for drinking, irrigation to grow food, hygiene, food preparation, and other aspects of daily life. However, the poorest of the poor, who mostly live in the slums of the developing world, often pay up to 10 times more per liter of water than “wealthy” people living in the same city, and have little or no access to sanitation facilities.

As a result:
1) 2.2 million people die each year from water-related diseases.

2) 80% of water-related deaths are in children ages 0-14. Each year, 1.4 million children die as a result of diarrhea.

3) Unsafe drinking water carries waterborne illnesses and 21% of all communicable diseases in India are related to unsafe drinking water.
 
4) On average, a rural woman in India walks more than 8,700 miles a year to fetch water. The time spent collecting water prevents mothers from caring for their children at home.

5) Young girls share the role of collecting water for their families, and many lose the opportunity to go to school because they spend one-third of their day fetching water.

Meanwhile, an American taking a 5-minute shower uses more clean water than the typical person living in a developing country slum uses in a whole day. Of the 60 million people added to the world’s towns and cities every year, most occupy impoverished slums and shantytowns with no sanitation facilities. Is it any wonder that, at any one time, more than half the poor in the developing world are ill from causes related to hygiene, sanitation, and water supply?

Without food a person can live for weeks; but without water, he can live only a few days! AIM and our partners are committed to helping people around the world develop access to safe, pure water supplies.

During the month of March everyone is celebrating World Water Day. Please pray for our efforts to bring clean water to the thousands of people in India without safe drinking water. We are especially focused on clean water for the lepers who are not allowed to use the community wells because they are considered unclean.

And, if possible, please send a generous gift of $20, $30, $50 or more today to help the
people of India. Each water well costs a total of $500 to install. You can give securely
online by clicking   or you can send a check to:

PO Box 1597
Stillwater, OK 74076


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“God saved us for more than to escape Hell, He has saved us to share Christ worldwide.” –Anonymous


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Prayer Requests
Pray for the vision trip scheduled in May. That God would lead us in how we partner.
Pray for increase in the annual giving and commitments for this upcoming year.
Pray for a great revival to spread across India and around the world.

                         
                         Asia International Mission is an IRS approved 501(c)(3) non-profit ministry. 
All gifts are tax-deductible and 100% of donations are used as designated