We publish a monthly newsletter to share with you everything we are doing with Generation U. One of our goals with Generation U is to make connections and form links between different groups. We are linking Steamboat Springs and Uganda. We are linking the old and new generations. What we want to do with this letter is link us with all of you, our supporters and partners.
We chase the hard stuff to prove that nothing is impossible. The more you do it, the more you realize that you’re built for this stuff, and whether it’s 100 miles of running or providing clean water where there is none or connecting a little mountain town with a country in Africa, we are built for this stuff, and we want to prove that you are built for your own impossible too. Once you realize that, you turn around and realize that the other problems in life, the ones you were worried about yesterday, they’re easy.
Supporting philanthropy doesn’t give you a product or an experience in return. What it gives you is a feeling, and our goal with this newsletter is to better deliver that feeling. Each of our wells directly saves thirty-eight lives per year. With each well, you are helping save thirty-eight lives per year. But can you feel that impact? Can you put a face to that number?
Almost nine thousand miles away, there is a little girl. Her name is Ruth. From the time she was born, her task has been to provide life via water back to her community. So with her mother, she wakes up in the morning, and she gets a jug of water that is a five-gallon jug of water. It weighs 40 pounds. They walk three miles to fill it up on a surface well where livestock and disease contaminate the water. They fill up their jug, and they walk home. It’s a three or four-hour trek each way, and they go one or two times a day.
So this little girl doesn’t even dream of becoming an artist, a singer, a pilot. She can’t think that far because her mother does the exact same thing as she does, and they always do that. There will never be time to think of anything else. So she spends her entire day knowing she will do this for the rest of her life.
What if she didn’t have to go fetch water anymore, and she went to school? Now, she dreams of one day becoming something different. She could be educated. She could be dreaming. She could grow beyond what is right there in front of her.
This is what we are providing through our wells. This is what you are providing through your support. You are allowing Ruth to dream. You are saving lives. You are inspiring the next generation.
We are thankful for you and your support. We are thankful for the ability to save lives through water. We hope you feel the same way.
Joel and Nich