Today’s Guest Blogger is Paull Young from charity: water, a non-profit organization that works to bring safe and clean drinking water to developing nations. While we at OWC support charity: water’s goals, the statements made are those of the author, and not necessarily those of Other World Computing.

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Today is World Water Day and, as part of that, we recognize the nearly one billion people on our planet living without access to life’s most basic need: clean, safe drinking water.

Lack of access to safe water and basic sanitation kills more people each year than all forms of violence, including war. Women and children in developing nations walk hours every day, carrying dirty water home to their families.

We can change this.

Today, on World Water Day, the non-profit organization charity: water has launched a campaign to end the water crisis through the power of birthdays.

Why birthdays? Because charity: water was started in 2006 with a birthday party. Since then, they’ve moved thousands of people to “give up” their birthdays and ask for donations of their age in dollars instead of gifts. (28-year-olds ask for $28, 12-year-olds, for $12.) charity: water uses 100% of this money to directly fund water projects, proving every completed project with photos and GPS coordinates in Google Maps.

Your next birthday can save lives. Visit www.charitywater.org/birthdays today to learn about the charity: water birthday story, and to pledge to give up your next birthday for clean water.

Just $20 can give one person access to clean drinking water. $5000 can fund an entire water solution for a village in need. If you can raise $5,000 or more, charity: water will attach a plaque with your name on it to the water project.

In honor of World Water Day, visit charity: water today and learn how the power of birthdays can change the world.

Birthdays can change the world // a story from charity: water fundraisers
from charity: water on Vimeo.