Did you know that ?

...right now, almost a billion people on the planet don't have access to clean, safe drinking water, That's one in eight of us.

...unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation kills 42,000 people every week, That's more than all forms of violence, including war.

...90% of these deaths are children under five years old.



Well neither did I, until I met Amanda Rose and Chris Sacca a year ago, and they introduced me to charity: water.

I knew instantly that I wanted to help and donated money for wells, helped others raise funds and generally spread the word in Europe, especially amongst my colleagues at Spotify. But I wanted to do more and get REALLY involved (which won't come as a surprise to those of you who know me!). So imagine my surprise and delight when a week ago, Scott Harrison from charity: water emailed me to say "Get ready, we're going to Ethiopia".

On 10 June, off I go to the Tigray region of Ethiopia for 9 days. We'll be visiting villages where charity: water has built wells in the last year as well as villages and schools that badly need wells and other sanitation projects, not just for a better quality of everyday life, but for survival.

My aim is to raise $100,000 for this amazing charity and so I need your help. 100% of all the money given to charity: water goes directly to project costs and you'll be able to see the wells built on www.charitywater.org once they're complete. For anyone generous enough to donate $5,000 or above, you'll be recognised on the water point with a plaque, in the village you helped.

Yes, raising $100,000 is a pretty bold aim, but this amount of money will absolutely change lives. $100,000 can give 5,000 people clean water for 20 years. so please, please help me to reach this fundraising goal.

Thank you.

Shak

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Update 1 on 2nd June 2010:

We've surpassed the initial goal I set and I am extremely grateful to everyone who has donated.

Whilst it'd be very cool to sit back and relax now, however that can NOT be the case, as there are ONE BILLION people without access to clean water, and the $123,078 raised so far is only going to be able to help 6158 of them ...

There's still 8 days before I leave for my trip and with your help I believe we can push even further and raise $150,000 which would go a long way to changing even more lives.

So Please Please Help ...

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Update 2 on 4th June 2010:

So the latest target was reached yesterday and the total now stands at $154,208 - so what now ?

The thing with having ambitious goals is the amazing feeling when you beat them and keep raising the bar higher and higher.

with that in mind, I am raising the target to $200,000 with an end date of end of June, however to help matters along and smash this goal in record time, I propose the following:

I will MATCH every $ donated until we hit the $200,000 figure, so eg: you donate $100 and I will match it with $100 from me ...

Get Donating Folks ...

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Update 3 from Ethiopia on 10th June 2010:

So I have been here for about 12 hours and we have reached the $200,000 target which was set a few days ago, words can not express what i feel right now.

In 5 hours we leave Addis Ababa and head out to the real rural areas where most of the projects are taking place, and to go to these areas knowing that YOU folks have donated enough money to give 40 villages clean water is just about the best feeling I have had in a long time.

I wont raise the target again, HOWEVER let's not forget that this is a drop in the ocean, and that there are still One BILLION people out there which need your help.

So please donate what you can, and together at least we can start making a difference.

over and out (for now)