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Why Is Clean Water Important?

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Clean water is essential for life! Dirty and contaminated water can be deadly. Waterborne illnesses like diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid fever, cholera, and Hepatitis A often result when contaminated water is consumed. This contamination is caused by industrial waste, animal waste, pollution, open defecation, and other sources. Why is clean water important? According to the United Nations, 1.9 billion people (27 percent of the world’s population) live in “potentially severely water-scarce” areas. 1 This is unacceptable and organizations around the world have jumped into action to provide safe, clean water for those people. GFA World has been serving in Asia for over 40 years, bringing clean water, humanitarian aid, educational opportunities, community development, and God’s love to the people of Asia. We are also planning to started providing these services in Rwanda as well, while looking forward to reaching many more African countries in the coming years. GFA World provides clean water...
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How Can I Make a Water Well Donation in Africa?

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For over 40 years, GFA World has served in Asia, reaching over a dozen Asian nations. We’ve provided clean water, education for children, child sponsorship, and community development projects. We’ve also had a wonderful ministry to widows, leprosy patients, and slum dwellers. Now, we’re moving into Africa! This continent is home to over 1/5 of the world’s population and is known as the poorest continent in the world. Over 1.2 billion people reside in Africa and over half of that population is under 15 years old. The needs are great, and we are looking forward to helping share the love of Jesus with the people of Africa, starting in Rwanda. Water Well Donation Africa As we serve in Africa, we “aim to empower the poor to break the cycle of poverty and show God’s love.” Starting in Kigali, Rwanda, we have begun meeting the tangible needs of the people, and the ministry is planning on training national workers, launching clean water projects and medical initiatives, providing educational o...
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How Can I Make a Water Well Donation?

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One of the most life-changing gifts you can make is a water well donation. The problem of water scarcity and its solution have been well researched by GFA World. The Problem It is estimated that 785 million people lack a basic drinking water source and at least 2 billion people use a water source that is contaminated with feces. 1 A basic drinking water source is an improved water source that is located within a round trip of 30 minutes. When people don’t have access to an improved water source, they often choose to drink contaminated water and risk waterborne illnesses. Access to clean water sources is most needed in developing countries. The Solution Generous people like you donate water wells to help where they are needed most. Over the past two decades, 30,000 wells have been drilled through GFA World and it’s partnerships worldwide. The wells are provided to communities where people have no access to clean water or where people are walking long distances to find water. Click here...
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Donate Clean Water

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When you donate clean water, you make a life-changing difference in a community. Many people around the world can’t reach for a clean, refreshing drink of water on a hot summer day. Collecting water may take hours and, oftentimes, the water that took so long to find is contaminated with feces or another form of pollution. This contaminated water often carries waterborne diseases like diarrhea, cholera, typhoid, Hepatitis A, and amoebiasis. Whenever you donate clean drinking water, or give a water well donation to Africa or Asia, you can make a life-saving contribution. When you donate clean water through GFA World, you: Allow children to have time for school The responsibility of collecting water often falls on the children, especially girls. When these girls have to walk for hours to find water, they are unable to go to school. For many, water is more important to the family than their education. Children who attend school have a greater chance of breaking the cycle of poverty, so w...
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Why Does Africa Not Have Access to Clean Water?

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Sub-Saharan Africa has a severe water crisis. So, it’s fair to ask, “Why does Africa not have access to clean water?” The Global Citizen reports that there are four major factors at play: Access to water supply and sanitation Sanitation gap Emergencies and disasters Water resources [1] They report that open defecation is the prime result of not having access to a water supply and sanitation. This relates to the sanitation gap, where the infrastructure needed has not caught up to the population growth. A cycle of floods and drought in Africa causes both water scarcity and contamination in an area where sources of water are already fewer than in some places. [2] All of these issues account for Africa’s ongoing water crisis. Solutions are needed that can address these four critical areas in sustainable ways that benefit the local community. GFA World has decades of experience examining and solving for water issues. They serve some of the poorest regions in the world, including Africa. GFA...
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How Are Clean Water and Sanitation Related?

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Clean water and sanitation are related because at least two billion people worldwide use water contaminated by feces. [1] In the poorest regions of the world, there is no proper running water infrastructure separated from sanitation systems. The only water source available to them might be a pond or river, and if there is not a sanitation system in place to collect and properly dispose of feces, then it’s often inevitable that the two will mix. According to the Brookings Institution, “Most of the world’s poorest live in rural areas. Roughly two out of three people living in extreme poverty live in rural settings. In total, some 400 million rural men and women live in extreme poverty, more than the populations of the United States and Canada combined. At the same time, roughly half that amount (approximately 200 million) live in cities.” [2] In rural settings, you also have livestock and other animals that are not contained or monitored for their defecation. This adds to the problem of...
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How Many People Don’t Have Access to Clean Water?

To understand how many people don’t have access to clean water, you first have to understand the water available to the entire globe. Though the earth is covered in water, you cannot drink ocean water without desalinating it, which means removing the salt. There is not yet an efficient way to do this. Most of the remaining fresh water is trapped in the ice caps, and the rest is not evenly distributed or accessible worldwide. [1] The World Health Organization reports the following staggering facts about the global water crisis: Over 2 billion people live in water-stressed countries, which is expected to get worse. At least 2 billion people use a drinking water source contaminated with feces. Chemical risks in drinking water include arsenic, fluoride or nitrate, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and microplastics. Safe and sufficient water facilitates the practice of hygiene, which prevents not only digestive diseases, as well as acute respiratory i...
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