Water

Google water. Any website you visit about lack of clean water will give you a statistic like this: One billion people don't have access to clean, safe drinking water. Now think about that for a second. Water is everywhere; oceans, rivers, all living things. I'm willing to bet that some of you, like me, have some kind of water or water-based beverage with you right now. So how can we explain that statistic? Well, it has to do with poverty, which leads to lack of sanitation and education. Lack of education leads to more poverty, and so on. It's an endless cycle that has been going on for ages.
What I would like to focus on is the women and children effected by this. The task of collecting the disease-ridden water often falls to them. (The water happens to cause 80 percent of diseases killing more people then all kinds of violence, including war.) So, women are forced to walk miles every day. There are countless problems with this. First, the carrying of heavy containers and walking through harsh terrain causes many different health problems. Second, women and children are subjected to sexual assault and other dangers along the way. Third, spending all of their time and energy trying to find dirty water, keeps women from getting an education, which is one of the main tools people need to get themselves out of bad situations to begin with. Every additional year that a woman receives an education is thought to reduce child mortality by 5-10 percent.
The only thing that gives me hope in regards to this situation, is that because there are so many problems related to lack of water for men, women and children, that means there are also endless ways to help. Donating money may help ship clean water to refugee camps. It may help build wells to be used for years to come. It may provide medical care for children suffering from diseases brought on by lack of sanitation.
We know how important water is, we just need to care.