The Silent Killer That Kills More People Than Al- Qaeda Does

Al Qaeda is dreaded. This terrorist organisation has claimed responsibility for some of the world’s deadliest terrorist attacks,including 9/11. What if i told you, however, that a basic need - water - kills more people than al qaeda has ever done?

5000 Children Are Going To Die Today Because Of Dirty Water

May 9th 2015 is one day that is forever stuck in my memory. Myself and a couple friends had volunteered with a foundation to provide a rural community in Africa the basic needs of food, clothing and health care.

It took us hours to get there - i slept off twice - and only my camcorder and phone kept me alive for the rest part of the journey. Oh, and my hot dog too.

I love hot dogs.

We arrived the place at around past 3 pm. Don’t be fooled by how poor the residents of these communities might be, they have a stunning natural environment. The trees, the winds, the animals that roam about freely, one word - stunning.

This community we visited was located close to where is referred to as the “seme border” in Nigeria.

As i looked around, i marveled at how beautiful the place would be if not for some things. There was sand all over the place like it was a beach or something. There were animals just like i said earlier, there were fruits all over the place. LORD! I love this place

I was jolted back to reality however by the bemused looks on the faces of the children in the community. They looked at me like i was from another planet. I smiled and waved to them before joining the remaining volunteers.

We got to work quickly - i was over seeing the sharing of foodstuffs. The people love staple foods that are not too popular in the western world - garri (made from cassava), rice, yams etc. We shared this to them along with oils. The others shared clothes to people based on their ages while those skilled in medicine among us took up the job of medical check-ups on the people.

By the time we were done, it was 7pm and darkness had crept in. We decided to look for a nearby hotel but the closest hotel was too far away. The people appreciated us so much that they offered us a place to stay in. We took them up on their offer.

I was so exhausted that i slept off barely 5 minutes after i got my room.

By 7am, we were up and when i wanted to take my bath, our coordinator laughed and told me to wash my face with the water we brought. I didn’t understand why till a few minutes later.

He took me to their source of water - a well that had visibly brown water. I lost interest in taking my bath when i saw the water. I washed my face, hands and legs and got ready to go.

That was when "it" happened

A mother came to our bus just before we left asking for medical attention. She said her son had been ill all through the night and was close to dead. We rushed there and in a few minutes, the boy was dead.

What was the cause?

Diarrhea - a water borne disease.

It was then i was told that this mother had lost 3 children (out of five) to this water borne disease and the people regarded the disease as “catch and die”. In other words, as soon as any one gets infected, they are bound to die. (Of course, this is not true but they also have limited access to healthcare)

The tears of that mother haunted me for days. I kept on thinking "i could have done something!"

When i got home, i took most of my savings, along with a little contribution from friends and sent it to a company to build a borehole for them.

This is the harsh reality of people living in rural communities worldwide. After a brief research of my own, i found out that dirty water kills more people than al qaeda does, Dirty water kills more people than war does, Dirty water even kills more people than some of the most dreaded diseases such as HIV/AIDS.

We are totally oblivious of this fact in the western world. The average american uses over 300 gallons of water per day (Clean Water). The average rural dweller uses less than 20 gallons (And most times, that water is dirty). We are used to the tradition of wastage of water while someone somewhere has no access to what we waste freely.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

If you’re like me and have a lot of free time on your hands, you can choose to be a water volunteer. You can either choose to be a self sponsored volunteer or work with organizations involved in water provision.

If you don’t have time, then you can do two things.

1) TURN OFF THAT DAMNED TAP!!!

LOL. Really,we waste a lot of water. It doesn’t help in the equal distribution of water worldwide. Don’t leave the tap running when you’re not using it. Don’t waste water on unnecessary stuff.

2) HELP PERSONS/ORGANIZATIONS

You should look to giving a small monthly donation to an organization or to volunteers involved in providing water. It doesn’t cost anything. 5000 children die every day because of this plague and you can make a difference in some way by sending donations.

After my experience, i got home and i decided to be a full time ‘self sponsored’ volunteer for the next 8 months to one year. This means as i travel from place to place,i would build boreholes in each of these communities.

Only one thing stands in my way: Funds

Check out my fundraising campaign here: Click HERE to Partner With Anabel

We give so much focus to terrorism and the lives we lose from it.How about we focus on this basic thing that kills more people than terrorism?

Blessings On Blessings,

Anabel.

P.S: Please share this on your social networks and get the word out!

P.P.S: Oh, Please get me a hot dog too, i’d appreciate that :)