How easy is it for you to right now get up and go get a drink of water?
It could from the fridge, it could be at the fountain down the hall or the cooler on the floor below.
Even more so, how many of you have to reach about six inches from where you’re sitting and grab the coffee or diet soda which is your constant companion?
That is exactly the point Shawn Wood has been trying to make the first five days in May.
A pastor at South Carolina’s Seacoast Church, Wood launched the online initiative “5 Days in May” to point how scarce potable drinking water is in Africa compared to many of our beverage habits. The goal was to get Americans to set aside all the money they would spend on drinks other than water for the first five days of the month and donate to well-digging projects, drinking only water themselves.
On his blog, Wood makes the following calculations:
The average American drinks 420 ounces of canned soft drinks a week.
My average friend goes to Starbucks 3 times a week.
I drink at least one fountain drink every day.
What does that cost for 5 Days?
30 cans of soda = $15.00
3 trips to Starbucks = $10.00
5 fountain drink = $8.75
$43.75 could give 5 people clean drinking water for the rest of their lives.
The concept has obviously validity beyond a five-day period and is a sobering reminder of how casually we can take for granted the creature comforts of our lives compared to the lack of basic necessities elsewhere.
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