Carry the Water: You Send the Springs into the Valleys
During Lent we will periodically highlight passages from the 2015 Lenten Meditation booklet. This one is from Sara Delaney, a Program Officer for Episcopal Relief & Development.
Read the Spanish version of this meditation here: http://bit.ly/1DRfPgF.
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Two days after I returned from a visit to Episcopal Relief & Development’s program in central India, I filled up my water bottle and left the office to meet friends at an outdoor summer concert. When I arrived, security told me I had to empty my water bottle—vendors sold water inside.
The annoyance and anger that rose up in me over this small request was surprisingly strong. I voiced my disappointment that in a city with free clean drinking water, people were forced to buy water in plastic bottles. Security seemed to find me slightly insane.
After I calmed down, I realized my anger was coming from something bigger. In India I had spent a week talking with people struggling to find enough water to drink. Farmers had planted their fields for a third time after two failed attempts and were waiting desperately for late monsoon rains to arrive.
Drinking from taps in places like New York City can make a small difference in our global water challenge. But working for change in places such as rural India by constructing drinking water systems, storing rainwater and choosing drought-tolerant crops can make a big difference.
Working together we can make springs flow between the hills, help grasses grow for the cattle and bring forth food from the earth.
Watch the video on our Clean Water program below, or follow this link to watch: http://bit.ly/1yXwPvw
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Sara Delaney is a Program Officer with Episcopal Relief & Development.
More than a billion people around the world do not have access to clean water. Every 15 seconds a child dies from a water-related disease. Learn more about what you can do to help ensure the accessibility of safe and clean water. #AllHands75 #CarrytheWater
