A Pause That Refreshes

Anderson, South Carolina

Most of the people in my world never ever think about water. They never think about it being scarce, expensive, or potentially laden with life-threatening contaminants. To them it is none of these things. To nearly three billion people on earth it is all of these things. It takes me about fifteen minutes to earn enough money to buy and dispose of all the clean safe water I want to make use of for an entire month. For a small bit more I can heat it up for showers, cooking or any other purpose I choose.

Hundreds of millions of people spend much of their waking time thinking about water. Many spend hours in physical labor each day acquiring it. Many children throughout the world have sacrificed their childhoods to be beasts of burden hauling water from distant polluted sources to satisfy the barest needs for cooking and hydration. None is available for showers, shampoo, hot tubs, or the other delights we take for granted.

Monday night 230 people who never think about water paid $100 to gather in a bucolic farm setting to pause and think about water for those who have to think about it all the time. We gathered to raise money to rebuild a dam, pump station, four reservoirs, and a system of high pressure pipe that supplies water to 12,000 Haitians living on the edge of the economic and nutritional abyss that is their world. People who don’t have to think about water have chosen to do so and pay the water bill for those that have no capacity to do so. Because open-hearted people have chosen to help others, some that were forced to think about water all the time are no longer required to do so.

A grand venue with a fine hall was donated as were hundreds of chairs, tables, and a tent big enough for a small circus. Caterers provided all the cooking, preparation, and presentation. Other vendors donated wine and beer. Others volunteered to be an attentive wait staff. Other offered to bus and clean up. My role was to scurry around and connect wires and hook up sound systems, projection systems, and computers so that our guests could see and hear what a Haitian world looks like that is forced to think about water too much. They could also see that the dam has now been built and that people are going to be able to start thinking more about things like education and better lives.

The bill to make sure these Haitians have safe water is about $1 million. We made $25,000 for offering a fine catered dinner at sunset. Unlike the miracle at the marriage supper in Cana where water was turned into vintage wine, we saw our offerings of wine and food turned into safe water for those are just beginning to believe in the possibility of miracles.