3000

Three thousand people died on September 11, 2001. We know their names and their stories. We remember their sacrifice by building a memorial. We honor their lives with times of silence and prayer every anniversary. Their deaths have transformed the culture of USAmericans.

Three thousand people die EVERY DAY in Africa because they don’t have clean water. We don’t know their names or faces. We don’t know their stories. We don’t remember them through any special ceremony or build any memorials in their honor. And, it seems, no one cares.

This is the greatest humanitarian crises in the world.

The average cost of a clean water well in Africa is around $3000.

It is hard for me to picture what the number 3000 tangibly looks like. In my head, I know that it is approximately the size of two of the local high schools combined. But simply saying 3000 people, I can't imagine that.

What if we organized an event to attract 3000 people that we might get a visual idea of just how many people this affects on a daily basis?

What if we organized a benefit concert to try and get 3000 people in attendance? The recommended donations would be $1 and 1 canned good. Then, we could take a picture of the 3000 gathered so we could see with our hearts. We could give the $3000 to help Blood:Water Mission build a clean water well. We could donate the 3000 canned goods to a local food pantry to feed the hungry.

In a world that continues to grow smaller, it still amazes me how many people still think about life as being here, and "those people over there need to take care of themselves."

But as Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

www.bloodwatermission.org