Justice Friday- Halfway There

According to the United Nations, more than half of Africa’s population lacks access to clean water. That’s three hundred sixty million people. The number is impossible to really grasp. It’s too big for the imagination. We can do something to make a difference.

Water Stats:
One third of women in Egypt walk more than an hour a day for water; in other parts of Africa, the task can consume as much as eight hours (www.unfpa.org)

The average distance a woman in Africa and Asia walks to collect water is 3.75 miles (www.whrnet.org)

The weight of water that women in Asia and Africa carry on their heads is equivalent to the maximum baggage weight allowed by airlines, 20 kg, or 44 lbs (www.whrnet.org)

Women are the primary caretakers for those who fall ill from water-related diseases, reducing their time available for education and productive economic efforts (www.unfpa.org)

In some parts of Africa, women expend as much as 85% of their daily energy intake on getting water, increasing incidences of anemia and other health problems (www.unhabitat.org)

A while ago some good friends of mine were meeting with their small group and they came upon this issue of water. They decided that they needed to do something to change the injustice that they saw. They put their skills and influence together and came up with a t-shirt. This t-shirt, in their idea could raise money to build wells in Africa. Craig, the designer and guru of Mission Adventures asked the garment company for shrits at cost, asked the printing copany for ink at cost and got a free web site launched that is valued at $5000. Suddenly they were on their way.

Here’s how it works. The Halfway There guy’s have covered all the cost of the shirt. The shipping, the ink and the fabric are paid by them. So, when you buy a shirt from Halfway There for $20-$25 all of that goes into the ground for water. There is another way you can help. You can purchase an order of  48 tees. This will cost you $242. If  you sell them for $14.95 each, that adds up to $717.60, 100% of which goes into the ground for clean water.

How can you begin? Well you can purchase a shirt by going to the web site here.  You can also download the PDF if you want to buy a bunch of shirts to sell by going here. Finally, you can join the Facebook page. There is the US page here and the Canadian page here.

I love this initiative. It is changing lives and the only people who are getting something without giving anything are the ones getting clean water. So far 2 wells have been drilled and we hope for many, many more in the future. If you are looking to make a difference, but are not sure where to start maybe this can help, it has helped me. Thanks Craig, KayCharlotte, Jonathan and the rest of you for making this small group dream a reality.