BLOOD:WATER Charity Pitch

Greetings Fellow Philanthropist,

As we enter the 10th week of Charity pitches, I've notice a pattern amongst the blog post. The poster's core values are at the forefront of the post. My approach to philanthropy is no different, and it is heavily influenced by my up-bring, past experiences, and beliefs. As the son of a social worker in the economically depressed foothills of North Carolina, my mom's insight was not often dealing with light subjects, but dealing with some of the most difficult and heavy topics one can be involved in. These are lessons that left me with early exposure to issue areas such as mental health, homelessness, drug addiction, the opioid crisis, HIV/AIDS, and food and water insecurities. From the lessons learned from my Mother, I also came to realize that superficial short-term solutions to complex deeply ingrained social issue rarely work and no matter how bad it gets for me, there is always someone out there that has it worse. Attempting to even out these imbalances is one of the reasons I support the moderate effective altruism approach. One experience in particular also shaped my view of clean safe water as a top priority worldwide. The experience was suffering the wrath of a water borne disease on a backpacking trip on the Mountains to Sea trail of North Carolina. The Mountains to Sea Trail goes from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the western part of the state, and stretches all the way to the sand dunes of Jockey’s Ridge State Park on the Outer Banks. While backpacking a section of the trail in Stone Mountain State Park with my Boy Scout troop, I made the incorrect choice of cleaning my mess kit in the river we were using as a water source.    Sparing the graphic details of the diarrheal disease, I ended my backpacking trip 3 days later at the next pick up point, 15 pounds lighter and severely dehydrated. The experience of pure illness left me with a much greater appreciation for clean running water and modern facilities. These are the core values that influenced me to pick BLOOD:WATER as my Charity organization to support.

BLOOD:WATER is a 501©3  charity based out of Nashville, Tennessee that supports efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa to reduce the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, improve access to clean drinking water, and improve sanitation conditions.  They partner with African grassroot organizations that are working in these issue areas. The agency works to identify "Africa's Hidden Heroes" in these areas and provide technical, financial and organizational support to allow these organization to cause large change. By partnering with African grassroot organizations, BLOOD:WATER has valuable people on the ground that can help them gain as much knowledge from the people most effected and informed on the issue areas. On the surface, it doesn't seem like the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the water crisis would be very related but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Many rural areas in Sub-Saharan Africa have been ravished by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, with 19.4 million effected in eastern and southern Africa, which represents over 50% of the 36.7 million effected globally. These same areas are often the hardest hit by water scarcity and lack of access to clean water for drinking and sanitation. The combination of the two issues can have deadly effects, especially because all most all HIV/AIDS related deaths are due to complications with another smaller disease and the patients weakened immune system. Due to their compromised immune systems, HIV/AIDs patients are very susceptible to common illnesses and diseases, of which the most common and deadly is diarrhea.  Studies found that up to 90% of AIDS patients in Africa suffer from a chronic diarrheal disease. (Obi 2006) Often times these water-borne diseases that would leave you or me 15 pounds lighter and severely dehydrated can be the final straw for those diagnosed with AIDS. People suffering from HIV/AIDS are often not able to walk the great distances to clean water sources. Clean water is essential for treating extremely painful skin, eye, and throat symptoms of the virus and most anti-retroviral need clean, safe drinking water to be effective. Clean water is also essential for mixing with formula to feed infants who's mothers are infected with HIV/AIDS. Please, think of the children. By partnering with African grassroot charity organizations that are already bringing health, hope, and healing to their communities, BLOOD:WATER is able to help establish water wells, hand pumps, and spring caps in rural areas in Sub-Saharan Africa that not only drastically improves the lives of those infected with the HIV virus but benefits everyone in the surrounding area. 

   

https://www.bloodwater.org/

             

Academic Source

Obi, CL, B Onabolu, MNB Momba, JO Igumbor, and J Ramalivahna. 

The interesting cross-paths of HIV/AIDS and water in Southern Africa with special reference to South Africa. Vol. 32, Gezina, South Africa, Water SA, 2006, pp. 323-43, https://www.ajol.info/index.php/wsa/article/view/5277. Accessed 20 Apr. 2018