(Scroll down for English)

Liebe Freunde,
Ich habe mich entschlossen, meinen Geburtstag (bzw. die materielle Seite davon) an Charity:Water zu spenden. (Zeit für neue Bücher, Filme und andere potenzielle Geschenke habe in dieser Lebensphase sowieso nicht... :-)) Das Ziel von Charity:Water ist, möglichst vielen Menschen auf der Welt Zugang zu sauberem Trinkwasser zu ermöglichen. Das Ganze funktioniert so: Wenn ihr mir dieses Jahr etwas zum Geburtstag schenken wollt (aber auch, wenn ihr das nicht wollt, hähä), bitte ich euch, stattdessen eine kleine Summe (egal wie klein!) an Charity:Water zu spenden. Anders als bei anderen Hilfsorganisationen kommt hier jeder gespendete Cent direkt an. Normalerweise bitten Leute, die eine Geburtstagskampagne einrichten, z.B. darum, für jedes ihrer Lebensjahre einen Euro/Dollar zu spenden; das kann ich ja nun in meinem Alter keinem mehr zumuten. Wenn aber nur 10 Leute zumindest halb so viele Dollar spenden, wie ich in Jahren alt werde, dann erreichen wir mein (zugegebenermaßen willkürlich gesetztes) Kampagnenziel!
Das Ganze funktioniert über PayPal oder Kreditkarte. Falls ihr weder das eine noch das andere habt, wendet euch doch an jemanden , über den ihr das regeln könnt. Im schlimmsten Fall schreibt mich an, dann nehme ich euer Geld irgendwie entgegen und überweise den Betrag selbst per PayPal.
Der Link zu meiner Geburtstagskampagne:
http://my.charitywater.org/patrick-maiwald/patricks36thbirthday

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English
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Dear friends,
I have decided to pledge my birthday (or the material side of it, to be more exact) to Charity:Water. (Seeing as I currently don't have the time for new books, movies, or other potential presents anyway...) The goal of Charity:Water is to provide access to clean water for as many people as possible. Here's how it goes: In case you would normally get me a birthday present (as well as in the case that you wouldn't, ha ha), I would ask you to donate a small amount (no matter how small) to Charity:Water instead. What's special about this charity organization is that every cent gets where it's supposed to go. Usually, when people pledge their birthdays, they ask people to give as many Dollars or Euros as their age in years. In my case, of course, that would be too much to ask due to my sheer age! But even if only ten people give half the amount of my age in years, we will be able to reach my (admittedly arbitrary) campaign goal!
PayPal and credit card are the options - in case you have neither, please get in touch with someone who does and can do it for you, or as a last resort, contact me and we'll find a way of you giving me your donation and me passing it on using PayPal.
Here's the link to my birthday campaign:
http://my.charitywater.org/patrick-maiwald/patricks36thbirthday

...and here's the podcast episode that gave me the idea:
http://www.theliturgists.com/podcast/2016/11/1/suffering-part-1
An in-depth interview with the founder of Charity:Water can be found here:
https://robbell.podbean.com/e/episode-29-water-for-everyone-the-scott-harrison-interview/
...and probably in many other places.

Thanks!
Patrick

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Official statement:
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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. But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are simple solutions like drilled wells, spring protections and BioSand filters that help provide clean water to communities around the world.

This fundraising campaign will help charity: water build these types of projects around the world -- 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 exact community we helped.