Giving the Thirsty Something to Drink
by Carolyn Kimmel
September 27, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Photojournalist Scott Harrison traveled to Liberia aboard the Mercy Ship last year to capture on film the people whose lives would be changed by the medical help they received. He never dreamed the trip would change his life as much as theirs. (See earlier story on Scott Harrison)In the villages and in the countryside, he saw things he can't ignore now that he's home in the States. Things like people so desperate for water that they drank from a swamp. Images of small children dying from dysentery and parasites, the result of dirty drinking water.
"The trip was an incredible, life-changing experience," he said. A former events planner in New York City, Harrison began to wonder how he could connect his old friends with his new cause -- to provide wells for clean water in Africa. And so charity:water was born.
Harrison is selling $20 bottles of water and giving 100 percent of the money to build fresh-water wells in Africa. "Two hundred bottles of water is a well that gives 500 people clean water for 15 to 20 years," he said. The scope of his project is much greater than that though -- he hopes to educate the world about the dire need for clean water.
He hosted a charity:water party recently in New York City's fashion district. Supporters gave $17,000 to the cause. Next, he's staging outdoor charity:water exhibits in major New York City parks.
"The water show looks like four 12-foot-by-8-foot walls with aquariums containing 'dirty' water that face off against a 16-foot plexiglass cylinder containing a thousand bottles of $20 custom-labeled water," Harrison explained. "The inner walls educate the public about water and highlight the work of four organizations digging freshwater water wells in the world's poorest countries." The elaborate exhibit will go on a 12-city tour in the United States this summer and then to Europe, he said.
Choosing to focus on water, he said, was a no-brainer. "It's probably the greatest problem affecting the poor today. More than a billion people don't have access to clean water. A billion people walk at least three hours a day to fetch water, and 25,000 people will die today because they don't have access to clean water."
Harrison chronicled the inspiring stories of people helped by the doctors aboard the Mercy Ship, who removed tumors and restored health to those who would not otherwise have been able to afford or have access to medical help.
Along the way, Harrison found his own life-view transformed as, for the first time, he looked at life through the eyes of the have-nots. Harrison, 31, was a successful events planner, rubbing shoulders with celebrities and supermodels. His lifestyle was one of excess, glamour and adventure, yet he found it strangely empty. "I had everything I supposedly needed to be happy, yet I wasn't happy," he said. "I began to explore my faith. I had grown up in the church, but I walked away from it when I was 18."
His search for happiness led him back to the pages of his Bible, where he began looking closer at the teachings of Jesus Christ. "He basically served humanity," Harrison said. The great juxtaposition of Christ's life to his own hit him with tremendous force. "Everything I did was purely selfish; to make me happy. The more I chased after happiness, the more elusive it became," he said.
When he decided to seek out a service opportunity and landed on board the Mercy Ship, he began to find true happiness. "When you start looking out for others, it liberates you. When you're just looking out for yourself, it's basically unfulfilling. At least it was for me."
Back among his old crowd, Harrison says he doesn't preach to them as he pitches his new cause, but he hopes they see his life's focus has changed drastically. And if they ask him what's different, he tells them.
"There's a great verse, I Peter 3:15, that I try to live by, and here's my paraphrase of it: 'Live in such a way that people ask what's different, and always be prepared to give a reason for the hope you have, but do it with gentleness and respect.' I'm not running around preaching; I try to let my life show it."
Now working fulltime on the efforts of charity:water, Harrison has high hopes for what the non-profit organization will do, working in partnership with charitable organizations around the world.
Charity's three-fold mission is to raise awareness on issues such as water and sanitation, hunger and preventable disease; to provide financial support to effective non-profit groups working in these areas; and to enable donors to personally participate in the process. No, that doesn't mean they have to go to Africa and dig a well themselves! Using satellite technology and the Web, Harrison's group will provide photos and videos of the wells purchased with the money raised by charity:water. Donors will be able to see with their own eyes what their money has done.
Carolyn Kimmel is a staff writer for Good News Daily, a daily online Christian newspaper based in Wellsville, Pennsylvania. For more information on Scott Harrison's effort and how you can donate to the cause, go to Charityis.com.
