Reflecting on Nuru's BH2O 2010 & New Video Release

BH2O+ 2010 Highlights from Nuru International on Vimeo.

Earlier this spring, 1500 college students and young professionals on 23 college campuses, 3 city centers, and one international site, decided to take a walk. This wasn’t a protest march, but rather a solidarity experience that allowed men and women in the western world to grow in better empathy and understanding of part of the daily life of one in eight people on our planet.
The event was called “Be Hope To Her” or “BH2O+” and was organized by Nuru International in an effort to inspire people to confront the crisis of extreme poverty.
The participants in the event placed a yellow five gallon bucket on their head and carried the bucket through their town or campus to a water source. At the water source, they filled their buckets with water, and began a journey through the area with about forty pounds of water on their heads.
Each step these men and women took made statistics a reality. No longer were they hearing about the reality of women and girls spending several hours each day gathering water for their families. No longer were they considering the opportunities that these girls and women would not experience because of the consuming need to gather water for their families. No longer was the problem of extreme poverty a far-away issue that affects people “over there.” When these men and women walked in mid-April, they were awakened to the issue of extreme poverty in a way that a statistic or a story of another could never do.
The story of nearly a billion people living in extreme poverty became the story of these men and women who gave up time and other choices for one day so that the people of Kuria, Kenya and beyond might experience a life filled with choices and opportunity. Now there are 1500 new storytellers who can tell about their experience of one day, and the daily experience of millions.
And as you watch this video, these young men and women invite YOU to join us in the fight. Make a donation, or just tell a friend, but get involved. These men and women invite YOU to be part of the solution, to be part of the END of extreme poverty. Will you join them in the fight?

River Water

For the next couple of days, I will be staying in the gateway to the West, St. Louis. The photo above was actually taken over two years ago on a similar trip for a conference out here. The water on the Mississippi is much higher right now. In fact, much of the area below the trees appeared to be underwater as we drove by yesterday.

It's kind of wild to look at a river, and think about the flow of the water. I live near the Monongahela River, and the water that flows past Morgantown goes into the Ohio. The Ohio River starts in Pittsburgh, and travels past where my best friend in the whole world, Willie grew up, and on down past where many people in my tribe lived, and goes past my dad's house in Parkersburg. And then, that water, travels around Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois as it makes its way to the Mississsippi, a little south of st louis.

All of that water is constantly traveling, and it stays it's course. That water that runs in Morgantown, eventually makes it's way near St. Louis. It's hard to imagine in a world of planes, trains, and automobiles that travel by water was once a fast and convenient way to travel.

There's a lot that can be learned from river water. It's pace is steady. It's goal is clear (even amid it's twists and turns). It has a power to carve through the landscape and leave an unforgettable mark on the land it covers, as well as the land that surrounds it. Maybe you can think of some other lessons too?

Regardless, may you be purposeful in your flow today as you impact the landscape around you, and may you have a positive impact at that!

Be Hope To Her Retrospective

BH2O+ Day of Recap Video from Nuru International on Vimeo.

Yesterday, Nuruuploaded a video celebrating itsBe Hope To Herevent. This nationwide event was the first event of it's kind Nuru hosted, and after you see the video, I think you will agree with me that it was a HUGE success.

Here's what happened. Women on eleven college campuses walked through the center of their campuses with yellow five gallon buckets and went to a water source to fill them. Then they walked through their campus carrying these buckets on their heads to a final destination where there was a rally, clean water, food, music and a wide variety of fun.

At the same time these women walked, men on these campuses held posters or helped educate folks in other ways.

For over one billion people, this kind of walk is a part of daily life. You can scroll back through my blog entries to see a video that explains this a little bit better too.

Part of the reason why Nuru did this is because it is raising funds for FOUR deep water wells for the people of Kuria, Kenya. Want to help? These wells will cost several thousand to get drilled, but if you want to give and support this endeavor, visit the Nuru website and donate.

Oh, and if you watch the video closely, you just might see a familiar face in it. ;)

It's Happening!!!

"Be Hope to Her" at Stanford

See that photo? There's a link beneath it. I need you to click that link, or this one and go vote this photo as BEST in Peninsula Happenings for the Mercury News in Silicon Valley!

Will you go do that?

There's a story and more info with the photo, but you can read that when you click the link and vote. Thanks for helping out!

The Bucket

It's emerging all over campus at WVU, and making appearances as far west as Stanford and as far north as Boston College and Gonzaga. It's even popping up all over Ball State this week! (Check out this sweet articlefrom BSU's campus paper.

WHat's it all about? It's BH2O+, or "Be Hope To Her" and what it's about is this. THere are over one BILLION people in our world who don't have access to clean drinking water. They can't even get in their car and drive to wal-mart for bottled water. That's right, they've gotta walk and fill up a bucket just like the one you see above. Five gallon bucket, sitting on top of a little girl's head and guess what else. She has to miss school. So she doesn't get an education, and if she doesn't boil the water she acquires, then she and her family can get six. Five gallons of water weighs about 42lbs. Can you imagine carrying that?

But it doesn't have to be this way. There's another possibility. What if they didn't have to walk 30 minutes or more to get water, and what if the water they acquired was clean?

This week, hundreds of women across college campuses here in the states will be walking and raising funds and awareness so wells can be drilled in Kuria, Kenya.

So when you see the bucket on facebook or twitter (or on this blog), take a moment and think about the opportunities we take for granted. Don't let this one pass you by. Be part of sustainable solutions to clean drinking water and even more.

Visit the be hope to her website and join others in confronting this crisis!

Be Hope To Her

This spring, Nuru International is launching a nationwide awareness campaign focused on college campuses. The event is an attempt to experientially raise awareness about the issue of clean drinking water that over one billion people are challenged with each day. In the states we get our water from a tap, flush it down our toilets, and buy it by the bottle.

In other parts of the world, people hike 30 minutes or more (one way) to get five gallons of water for their family. This trip has to be made multiple times per day. In order to get that water, people have to give up a lot of time to dedicate to water access. Even when the water is acquired though, oftentimes it is filled with bacteria, and is not safe to drink. So the water needs to be boiled. If the water isn't boiled, then people get diarrhea, or have other health problems. This means that their daily routine is slowed down severely at best. In some cases, because of lack of convenient access to medical facilities, this can result in death (an 2.2million million children will die from diarrhea this year). When you have to spend hours each day getting water, and boiling water, there isn't much time for schoolwork, so many young girls don't get to complete school because they are taking care of getting water for their families.

Next Thursday, eleven major college campuses across the United States are participating in an event called Be Hope To Her. Women will gather at a central place on campus, and carry yellow five gallon buckets to a water source where they will fill and carry in solidarity with the women and girls in other parts of the world for whom this is a daily part of life. As the women walk, men will hold posters along the route that explain the fact that this walk is THE NORM for many, many people. Every day. Because water is a necessity.

I've heard people say that it would take $13 billion dollars to provide every person in the world access to safe clean drinking water. That's a lot of money. It's also the same amount that americans spend on cologne and perfume each year.

As I think about the event, and the inner strength of these women and girls who make this journey every day for themselves and their families, I'm excited. I'm excited because I believe this event will help inspire a generation to work creatively and collaboratively to confront the crisis. Not just the crisis of clean drinking water, but the larger crisis of extreme poverty.

If you wouldn't mind, if you have a blog, or you twitter, or you use facebook, will you help us to make the event even BIGGER by telling your friends, and posting a link to http://bhope2her.org and http://www.nuruinternational.org to be part of lasting change?

Be the change you want to see.

Be hope. Be light.

Be Nuru.

Water Girls

Water Girls, originally uploaded by Nuru International.

Over the lenten season, I attempted cut down my purchases of beverages and keep an accurate budget of what I spent during the course of the lenten season on beverages. It was kind of shocking to see how the total came out. I tried to keep track of times that people offered me other drinks (whether it was me or them, somebody had to make the purchase).

As a result, I realized that on average, I probably would have spent about $3/day on beverages. A cup of coffee here, and a soda there, and some juice at this spot all kind of add up. Of course there were days when I probably wouldn't have bought anything, but I think I realized over the course of time that I take for granted that I have all of these choices.

In the end, the amount I donated was a combination of what I would have spent combined with the amount I actually did spend on occasion (there were a few times I downed a coke, a coffee, or a vitamin water), and a little bit on top just to round everything out.

It's been an eye opening time with regard to the access to a variety of beverages and even more so to the availability of clean drinking water at my disposal.

If you get a chance, check out this website, and perhaps take stock of the simple pleasures like water that we all take for granted.

And, if you are so inclined, I encourage you to give to Nuru as well. It's a great organization, and they are planning to drill four deep water wells during the month of May for the 5000 people of Kuria, Kenya.

Will you join me in helping to bring lasting change to the people of Kuria?

Be Hope To Her

Be Hope to Her from Nuru International on Vimeo.

Go ahead and hit that play button above, after you read this blog entry.

In just two weeks, Nuru is launching it's largest grassroots event to date. It's called Be Hope To her, or BH2O+ for short. The event will feature women from 10 college campuses in different parts of the country walking in solidarity with women and young girls in the developing world. Campuses like Boston College, Stanford, Virginia Tech, Ball State University, and good ol' WVU are part of this historic event.

Essentially, here is the issue at hand. There are over one billion people who don't have access to clean drinking water. What this means is that women and girls spend much of their days walking long distances and often standing in line to gain access to a water source. Keep in mind that water is necessary for life (just in case you didn't realize this). Because they spend their days walking to get water for their families, often young women never get an education in these areas. Nuru wants to change that.

Nuru wants to give these women hope and opportunity. And women on college campuses are going to be part of that hope. Nearly 300 people have signed up for the event already, and we still have two weeks before the event takes place. Imagine what a stir will take place as women walk from their dorms and apartments with buckets on their heads, meet in the center of campus, make their way to a water source and walk through the campus in solidarity with each other, and with women and girls around the world.

At the same time as the event, Nuru is raising funds for our deep water wells to be drilled next to schools in Kuria, Kenya. Drilling wells next to the school gives extra incentive for students to go to school and then they can take water home with them at the end of the school day. These wells are not cheap. Another organization, Dry Tears has agreed to raise funds for one of these wells. They are raising $20,000 to bring clean drinking water to the people of Kuria, Kenya. BTW did I mention that Dry Tears was started by HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS?


I'm blogging about this today because I'm totally stoked about this event! I'm blogging because there is still time for you to register for the event, or even make a contribution to Nuru. I'm blogging about this event because YOU AND I have an opportunity to save hundreds of lives and create opportunities for others by getting involved.

Will you visit the Nuru site, or the facebook cause page, and make a donation? Or, better yet, will you register, and join in solidarity with women and girls around the world who do this not just once, but EVERY day.

May you take a moment to make a small contribution to change while you have the opportunity.

The Big Necessity

Among the books I’ve read recently is this little gem that was recommended by my old friend from parkersburg, Jaime Sayre. Jaime is an Environmental Engineering doctoral candidate and a brilliant friend.

The book, is a book by Rose George called The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters. The book takes the reader around the world to look at water and sanitation issues and the great needs in this realm of human health.

I found myself completely shocked by what I read. She said that the issue of clean drinking water is largely a sanitation issue. Not only is it a sanitation issue, but it’s more specifically an issue of feces. It’s an issue that folks don’t like to talk about but after reading this book, I realize how very important and how little discussed the subject is.

In America, we flush and everything goes away. But where? Have you ever really thought about it? What would life be like without indoor plumbing? What would life be like with out the water and sanitation luxuries we enjoy. (By the way, the sewer systems even in our part of the world are fairly outdated in many areas.)

What about the 2.6 billion people in our world who don’t have access to “adequate” sanitation and clean drinking water? How could this need be solved?

The author recommends micro scale changes and improvements that can expand to macro scale long term change.

When I think about the need, and the solution many are suggesting, I get even more excited about the work Nuru is doing.

If you get a chance, check out the book. It’s not a book about faith, it’s a book about a subject that we spend very little time talking about. It’s a book that exposes in a very unabashed way the very dire situation in much of our world with regard to sanitation, and even demonstrates how little we know about our own sewage problems. After reading this book, I am much more conscientious about what goes down any drain. It doesn’t just disappear, and somebody has to deal with it.

In the meantime, maybe we can all just start to live a little differently, and a little more aware that we may just be part of the solution and we may have something to offer others in aid in some way.

Dry Tears

Dry Tears, originally uploaded by chanchanchepon.

I've had a lot of stuff I wanted to blog this week, but I forgot my camera cable in West Virginia and I was in Michigan for a conference with GCM during the week (more on that later). For now, I'd like to introduce a couple of friends I met during the 58 conference . . .

As part of the 58 Conference I had the privilege of picking up a couple of people from the airport. These guys names were Conner and Kyle, and when Conner was a freshman and Kyle was a junior in high school, they started a non-profit called dry tears.

Yep, you read correctly. While they were both in high school, they started a non-profit organization. It all started when Conner was reading a magazine article that was talking about poverty. You see, he found out that there were kids in our world who were so dehydrated that when they cried they didn’t form tears.

Conner and Kyle thought there was something wrong with that, ]so they started raising money and paying for wells to be dug. So far they have been part of over a dozen wells being dug. High school students—changing the world. Can you believe it? They’ve raised thousands of dollars and partnered with organizations like Blood:Water Mission and Living Water International to see wells dug in Sub-Saharan Africa. We’ve already started talking about a future collaboration between them and Nuru International in Kenya.

Beyond changing the world, Conner and Kyle are a couple of really cool guys. Conner is a senior in high school, and Kyle is a sophomore now at University of Georgia. They are passionate about following Jesus and making a difference in our world. These guys are both articulate and intelligent, and they also stayed at my house with me and my roommates this weekend.

Over the course of our time together, we shared a lot of laughs and some great stories. There’s something awesome that happens when brothers dwell together in unity, and with one mind.

I’m glad my friend Tiffany with Invisible Children told me about these guys, and we were able to get them to come to Morgantown. There’s something really motivating to a group of high school and middle school students when they see a couple of their own stepping out to make a change. And that’s exactly what Conner and Kyle are doing. They are making a change.

I know my life will be different as a result of meeting them. They inspired me. Check out their website, and spend some time with them, and I’m sure you’ll be inspired too. May more of our young people (and our old people) awake from the sleep that tells us that our contribution does not matter.

May this note wake you up to the crises in our world and motivate you to do something about them.

One Life

A friend of mine is trying to coordinate an event on the campus of WVU in partnership with the ministry of World Vision, a Christian organization that does a lot of work in poverty relief in the world. My friend, Matt Crum, just sent me the link to this video that he wanted to share with our community at h2o. His goal is to mobilize people to do something about the AIDS epidemic that has been destroying Africa. Personally, I think it's a great goal, and I hope we can help him in his efforts here in Morgantown.

While you might not be able to join in this work here in Morgantown, I couldn't help but think that this video could be a good reminder of the very privileged life everyone who reads this blog lives. I just spent over seventy dollars on food at the grocery store. Unless I am intentionally fasting, or simply forget to eat (which happens more often than I like to admit), I never have to worry about where my next meal comes from. Clean drinking water, is just a twist of the faucet away.

And yet, there are over a billion people for whom that is not the norm. While there is a limited amount any one person can do about problems like these, any one person can do something. It is my hope that over the course of this year we would all make some change to make this world a better place for those who have absolutely nothing.

We each have one life to live--what will you do with yours?