Many of us have no idea what it's like to be thirsty. We have plenty of water to drink -- even the water in our toilets is clean!

But many people around the world don’t have that luxury. Every day, about 1,400 children die from diseases caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation. One of these places is the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire where poverty is occurring at a rapid rate. But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are simple solutions like drilled wells, spring protections and BioSand filters that can be provided through organizations which can help provide clean water to communities around the world.

A few reasons for the poverty in Cote d'Ivoire are internal strife from a civil war, insufficient resources for the country’s people, and inadequate housing, especially in urban areas. In addition, there is the growing population, the AIDS epidemic, high mother and infant mortality rate, low schooling, poor literacy rate, and a low life expectancy.

In our specific community, Abidjan, the poverty rate was 46.3%. Nearly 30% of extremely poor households have access to drinking water, 90% to latrines and 30 percent of households enjoy a collection of household refuse service. 45.7% of households buy their water from retailers and the same is true for the households in the areas studied in this report.

We started this fundraising campaign to help charity: water build these types of projects around the world, and we’re looking for anyone who can help us.

Please donate to our campaign -- anything you can give is a huge help.

100% of the money will be used to build clean water projects, and when they’re complete, charity: water will send us photos and GPS coordinates so we can see the community we helped.