In September of this year Kirsten and I set out for Safari in Tanzania. Before we went we really didn't know what to expect, but it turns out that the trip exceeded any expectation we could have ever had for many reasons. While on Safari we were fortunate to see the so-called "Big Five" animals, but really the most enriching and life changing experience came while we were outside the bounds of the national parks.

Since we were flown into the northern Serengeti, it wasn't until around day 3 of our trip when we went outside the park that we got our first glimpse of the water crisis and African poverty. While driving through some remote villages with homes made of mud, the young children would come running to the road smiling and waving. As we got further down the road, there was one very young boy saying something over and over again in Swahili. When we asked our guide what he was saying, we were told that he was begging for our EMPTY bottles of water so that he could walk hours to the nearest town and have something to put water in. Just think about that for a second- we had full bottles of water in the truck and it's likely the boy knew that, but all he wanted was an empty bottle.

If you haven't done so already, we encourage you to watch this video (http://www.charitywater.org/whywater/). Before going to Africa, we had heard about the water crisis and even saw videos and TV commercials about it, but really never understood what it meant and how important water is to these people. We can assure you, everything that is said in the video is true. This is a real crisis as we saw it first hand. As we continued on the road (if you can even call it a road with it's rough terrain) we saw woman after woman walking with buckets on their heads on their way to get clean water for their families. We snapped the picture above of one such woman. Again, this is very real. Where this woman was headed and how long it would take her to get there is beyond me, because we were literally in the middle of nowhere.

While we saw that the crisis is real, we were also fortunate to see that providing a clean water well definitely has an impact on the people of Africa. We stayed 3 nights at a lodge on a farm that had its own water well. In an effort to give back to the community the lodge set up a separate pump for the villagers to use. One night before dinner an employee of the farm took us out back to see the well. It was clear that this pump was being put to good use as even at 7PM, there were still people lined up for water. Unfortunately, the pump needs to be shut off at night given the dangers of walking back to the village in the dark (keep in mind this is Africa and there are wild animals everywhere). While this is a start for one small village, there is clearly A LOT of work to be done.

We are talking about water here! Something that we take for granted everyday. It's free and we have endless supplies of it, but that's not the case for 1 Billion people in this world.

Tanzania truly was an eye-opening experience for us. While those people have so little and everyday life is a struggle, we were always greeted with a smile and a wave. So in honor of the wonderful people of Tanzania that touched our lives in such a special way and helped to put everything into perspective, this holiday season, Kirsten and I are committed to raising $7,500 for charity: water through our Holiday Water Wishes campaign. As outlined above, this $7,500 will give clean water to over 350 people.

Water changes everything. We hope that you will join us.

Sincerely,

Kirsten and Paul