Bringing clean water for life

One child dies every 90 seconds

Every day, dirty water kills more than 1,000 children under the age of 5. That’s one child… every 90 seconds. 
SOURCE: UNICEF Thirsting for a Future Report

Water For Life

This deadly water crisis is devastating for families who live with the daily threat of disability caused by Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) like River Blindness and Trachoma, parasitic worms, and snail fever – or the constant danger of being infected by diseases like cholera, typhoid, dysentery, polio, and diarrhoea.

cbm’s CEO, Murray Sheard, has seen these diseases first-hand and they are cruel. But they are entirely preventable – if only families had access to clean, safe water.

Right now, nearly 2 billion people globally are drinking water contaminated by human waste. SOURCE: WHO Fact Sheet on Drinking Water

You and I can turn on a tap and have clean water right away. But in many places where cbm works, the water people need just to survive, can also kill them.

In these places, clean water is either miles away, or completely unreachable. And for people with disabilities, it’s even worse.

Water may be located down steep embankments. Access to it may require a long, exhausting walk. It might come from open wells or shallow muddy holes, where wheelchairs get stuck and access is impossible. In many cases, people with disabilities are simply left behind, unable to drink, unable to wash, unable to survive.

Clean water from boreholes is vital to a community, but many existing boreholes have ceased to function for various reasons. They are often found broken and in need of repair due to their age. The only place to get water is from an open well or a river where there is great risk of contamination and pollution, and a greater risk of contracting NTDs.

With support from generous people like you, new or refurbished boreholes will provide communities with a centrally located source of clean water.

The addition of wheelchair ramps will make the task of gathering water safer and more accessible to people with disabilities.

Right now, there are children, adults and whole communities in great need of clean water in places like Nigeria... but your generous support can change that.

Through local cbm-funded partners, your support will help:

• Drill and restore safe water boreholes.
• Install hand-washing stations in schools.
• Educate communities in hygiene and disease prevention.
• And most importantly, ensure accessibility for people with disabilities, so no one is left behind.

Murray wishes he could take you with him to see what he has seen: the impact of clean water in a remote village. The joy on a mother’s face when she no longer fears her child will die from diarrhoea. The freedom of a man in a wheelchair to finally collect water from a pump with ramp access. The smiles of children who’ve never had a tap, now learning how to wash their hands at school. This is what your generosity makes possible.

Murray has seen first-hand what Water For Life does for a community. It is life-changing for all, but especially for people with disabilities who often cannot access clean water due to their disability.

We thank God – especially for your faithful support of people with disabilities.

But we are also deeply concerned that right now there are so many children and adults who cannot access clean water in the world’s poorest places.

Please will you help bring clean Water For Life to people in places like Nigeria, living with a deadly water crisis.

Thank you so much for your compassionate heart – and for helping to reflect God’s love to children and adults who need it most.