The Water Project

Skylar with Scott Harrison, founder and CEO of charity: water

“Imagine going to a school where there were no taps,” says Scott Harrison, founder and CEO of charity: water, a nonprofit group based in New York City. “When you had to go to the bathroom, you had to walk out into a field and hope that no one saw you.”

Nearly 700 million people in developing countries do not have access to clean water. Women and children, especially girls, walk for hours each day to collect water from rivers, streams, and puddles, leaving little time for school or work. The water is often dirty, shared with animals and riddled with bacteria. Each day, an estimated 1,400 children die from illnesses caused by unsafe water.

“I was born in Ethiopia and drank dirty water for the first four years of my life,” 10-year-old Tariku Savage writes in an email. “My little brother died from diarrhea because the dirty water we were drinking made him so sick.” When Tariku was four, a family in the United States adopted him.

“DONATING” BIRTHDAYS
Charity: water is a nonprofit organization that helps provide access to clean water in developing countries. “We really want to see a day where nobody’s drinking dirty water,” Harrison said during my recent visit to the nonprofit’s headquarters. In the past decade, charity: water has raised more than $200 million, enough to help more than 6 million people in 24 countries.

A well, like the ones used in water projects, greets visitors at charity: water in New York City.

“We really do great work, but it’s only possible because there are people around the world, especially kids, who recognize that it’s important to join us in the fight against the water crisis,” says Kaitlyn Jankowski, product marketing manager for mycharity: water, which helps groups launch their own fundraising efforts.

According to Jankowski, 36,000 people have “donated” their birthdays to charity: water. Tariku, who now lives in Colorado, is one of them. He has asked friends to contribute to efforts to solve the global water crisis instead of giving him birthday presents. So far, the fourth grader has raised more than $30,000.

“It makes me feel proud,” says Tariku, “to know that even though I’m a kid, I can still make a difference for other people.”