Trading Caffeine for Cash
Wyatt Waterkotte loves an orange Crush soda. He enjoys the taste of soda in general and his body is used to the caffeine.
For two weeks, he about 50 other Eastern students didn’t hear the pop of the tab on a soda can, or the sound of coffee brewing in the morning. The only liquid going into their bodies was available in their own faucets, boring water.
These students participated in the H20 Project, a nationwide challenge to drink only water. The money that would have been spent on other drinks is donated toward efforts to build wells in other parts of the world where clean water is not so accessible.
The money went to the Blood/Water organization and Convoy of Hope, as $1,050 was collected at Eastern to build a well in Africa.
Christian Campus House brought this unique idea to Eastern and CCH intern Elise Whitlatch led the project. She decided on the appropriate dates and made flyers to put around campus. This was the second year CCH has participated in the project.
“It was something I knew I wanted to do because through it, I personally have learned just how much even a tiny bit can make a difference for someone,” Whitlatch said, “Clean water for a whole year, when we spend $1.50 for 12 ounces.”
Brenda Koinis started the worldwide project in 2000, after hearing the staggering statistics of problems caused by unclean water, something taken for granted in this country.
The World Health Organization gives the eye-opening facts. More than one billion people in the world don’t have access to clean water and have to drink from polluted or infected water sources.
The WHO also said 1.8 million children worldwide die from water bourn diseases, which translates to 5,000 deaths a day. More than half of Africa’s population doesn’t have sanitary drinking water, according to the United Nations. Women and children often walk two hours each way to retrieve water, which is usually dirty, for their families.
“I had just bought two 12-packs of orange Crush and a 12-pack of Coke when I heard about this project,” Waterkotte said.
He decided to leave his fresh sodas unopened and put his caffeine addiction to the test.
“The first week was difficult,” he said, “I had a few headaches, because my body is used to having some caffeine during the day.”
That sacrifice is the intention of the project: for someone to give up something that seems like a necessity, but is truly just a luxury. Water is a necessity. In the U.S. we can have it whenever we want, and we often have to buy bottled water because the tap water isn’t good enough for us. It is hard to fathom water bad enough to cause blindness, guinea worm or even death. The U.N. has even recognized the water crisis across the world.
“We shall not finally defeat AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, or any of the other infectious diseases that plague the developing world until we have also won the battle for safe drinking water, sanitation and basic health care,” Kofi Annan, the U.N. attorney general has said.
The quote comes from the Web site of the Blood/Water mission, a non-profit organization started by the Grammy-award winning band Jars of Clay. The mission has recognized clean water as the easiest way for people to contribute to the well-known problem of AIDS, and other deadly diseases in Africa.
The goal of the mission is to build 1,000 wells in Africa. This organization received most of the money raised at Eastern from the two-week project.
Other options for contributing to building wells can be found on the H2O project’s web site. Examples of these include, Living Water International, World Vision, Inc., Thirst Relief International and others.
The most exciting part of the H2O project was how it provided a way for people who don’t have much time or money to offer to still make a difference. In just two weeks with a small group of college students, enough money was raised to build half of a well.
“I missed having some soda,” Waterkotte said, “But it feels great to be able to take a little bit of money and know it can save a life.”
Literally.
The official Web site of the H2O project says $1 can give a person in Africa clean water for a year and $10 would be enough for a lifetime.
So when Waterkotte went to McDonald’s and had some water with his meal instead of his usual Dr. Pepper, he put the dollar saved aside and made a difference in the world.
“Knowing how bad things are in the world compared to here, I had to do this project,” he said. “I wish more people knew about this and could take part in this great opportunity.”
Whitlatch agrees, and she said this project helped her gain a better perspective of the world we live in.
“It really makes you think how much we really are blessed and what we actually can do to help others who need it,” she said. “It is another way to love our neighbor in both a small and big way: giving up my coffee for two weeks and giving them water for life.”
Micky Deming can be reached at 581-7942 or at DENnewsdesk@gmail.com.
