Building a
Community of Love
Dane Bakken wanted to know what it
was like to haul a 41.5-pound jug of water on foot for 3.7 miles -- the average
for what a woman or girl in Africa will walk to bring clean water for her
family.
"You
can read about (such statistics) as much as you want, but until you do it,
that's what makes you realize just how hard that is. Otherwise, it's just
numbers," said Bakken, a participant at the 2012 Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America's (ELCA) National Youth Gathering (NYG) in New Orleans.
"Here
(in the United States) most of us can go to the kitchen to get a glass of
water. The same is not true for many around the world," Bakken said.
The
global water crisis doesn’t often make the headlines. But the truth is, it
claims more lives per year than war or natural disasters.
Nearly a
billion people — that’s one out of seven people in our world today – lack
access to clean, safe water. They walk an average of 3 miles each day to fetch
water. Too often, the water they find is not safe to drink. Unclean water
causes millions of people, especially young children, to die from water-related
illnesses each year.
It was a
tough journey. With beads of sweat streaming down his cheeks and momentary rest
stops, Bakken was determined to complete his task. It took him more than one
hour or 37 turns around a track.
"This
generation, in particular, is a product of the ELCA's deepening understanding
of and commitment to the connection between service learning and faith
formation. I want young people to return to their congregations as leaders,
demonstrating what they've learned here and possibly igniting the whole
congregations' imagination for mission" in the world, she said.
The
activity was part of the "100 Wells Challenge," where a goal was to
raise $250,000 to support the water projects of ELCA World Hunger around the
world. That amount could mean building 100 wells, each one with the potential of bringing clean water to 500 families
at a time. ELCA youth and their congregations delivered their offerings at the
100 Wells Challenge exhibit- and we exceeded our goal! More than $406,000 has
been collected as of July 24.
The youth of the ELCA are leading the
way! Praise God that we are apart of a church that recognizes the need to grow
up youth as leaders- and is effective in doing so! Without your generous
contributions, the NYG and ELCA World Hunger would not be able to touch this
many lives! Thank You! God’s work, our hands.
To find out
more about ELCA World Hunger’s 100 Wells Challenge or to donate, visit: www.elca.org/100wells
To find out
more about other projects conducted at the NYG, visit:
Christine
Donahue
TLGCS Mission
Interpreter Coordinator
