Public water was not an option when I was growing up. We lived in a very rural area and pumped our water from a natural spring. Many times the water was muddied by a recent rain. During droughts the water level was very low. My dad had drilled wells on our property only to find sulphur water, which you could drink, if you could get past the rotten egg smell. My family could not, so, my brother and I would carry water jugs on the handlebars of our bicycles and retrieve water from my grandparents. Granny and Pa lived down the road from us and had the best well, the water was sweet and clear as crystal. One of my best summertime memories was the opportunity to drink from the garden hose attached to that well. The water was so cold it would sting your lips.

 When I became an adult and started working, I married and moved to a town where public water was available. And, as the years went by, we became accustomed to the quality and quantity made available by our local water utility. But, in 2003, I made my first mission trip outside of the United States. Our mission group flew to Jamaica to replace some roofs displaced by recent hurricanes. I came face to face with the water issues I had seen in my childhood. Though some places had running water, the quality may not be that which we were accustomed. Our team had to rely on bottled drinking water.

 It was during that trip that a Bible verse was made real to me. Luke 12:48 states that "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.." I realized that I could have been born in Jamaica, or anywhere for that matter, and not in America. The privilege of living in such a blessed country, had been taken for granted. Now my eyes were open to the blessing of turning a handle on a faucet and receiving copious amounts of clean drinking water. I had been GIVEN much... now, much was REQUIRED.

 Since then I have felt the need to help those without. For this reason, my Safari Studio Adventures is also a Christian-based philanthropy. Working with those in India, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, we raise the awareness of needs and we raise the funds to fulfill those needs.

 Statistics show that one in five deaths of children under five is due to a water-borne disease and that every year 3,575,000 people die from water-borne diseases. Clean drinking water is truly life. Many spend hours each day retrieving water just to survive. And, even then, the quality of water still causes disease. Clean drinking water changes that and I have proof. In 2013, a Christian pastor, Kanthi Sudhakar, from the East Godavari District of India, contacted me for support. He ran an orphanage of about thirty children and many were becoming sick from the water they were drinking. God allowed us to raise funds to drill a well on the orphanage property and within one week the children had clean healthy water to drink. Water-borne sicknesses disappeared and children returned to school. The quality and quantity of clean water continues today. The success of this well inspired a second well to be drilled this year in a nearby village. And, now, that village of 200-300 people enjoy clean water as never before.

 Clean water opens the door allowing us to build relationships and help in other ways; medical, educational, physical and spiritual. Since 2013, Safari Studio Adventures, through the grace of God, has provided funds for heart surgery, medicines, food, wheelchairs, Bibles, sewing machines, school supplies, goats, phones, water tanks, bicycles, coffins, hospital stays, mosquito nets, beds and mattresses, etc.

 And, that is just the beginning, efforts to raise funds for a well for the Divine Mercy School in Bujingwa, Tanzania are underway. Want to help? Contact me at: [email protected]. Unlike many larger agencies, 100% of money donated goes to the need. Join us today.