Africa Day 11- "Water & Wells" (Ghana)

Unfortunately, I spent our last full day shooting in Africa on my back, sick in my hotel room. I couldn't keep any food down and slept for nearly 32 hours straight. I was so glad to see my bedside table chock full of bottles of water to drink every time I woke up. Ironic, that on this same day our team was covering water in Ghana.


In Africa, clean water is hard to come by! Some children are sent every morning to fetch water for their families that's several miles away. And even then it's not the cleanest water. Yet, they drink it anyway because it's the only option.

Today, our True Spirit of Christmas team talked with a man named Yaw Owusu who remembers what his village was like before World Vision built a borehole well in his community. Back then, people were contantly getting sick from guinea work ...a disease that can severely cripple or even kill you. Yaw got guinea worm 37 times yet was one of the lucky ones...he survived.

Now he says his 6 grandchildren don't even know what guinea worm is! They've never gotten sick because they can get clean, healthy water from the borehole well. We asked him what his village would be like if World Vision hadn't built the well...he answered, "We would be a ghost town."

Earlier this week we also met a mother who wanted to thank World Vision for building a shallow well in her village. Before it was built, her children hiked each morning to a stream to get water. Sometimes the water would make them sick. Plus, her kids were constantly late to school because of the long walk and she always worried they'd get hit by a car because they had to walk along a busy highway. Now she says her children get to school on time and don't worry about whether the water is ok to drink.

I don't know what made me sick. We suspect it was something I ate. I just know that I was so grateful to have unlimited access to clean, healthy water to help me get well again. Before this trip, I would have taken for granted having plenty of water by my bedside. Now, I can't help but wish for everyone to have just as easy access to clean water as I do.