Thirsty Child is a faith-based global non-profit organization dedicated to helping to eliminate the global water crisis
What We Believe
In our affluent society, we are called to do our best to help reduce human-suffering if we are aware of the problem and have the means to do so.
Faith without action is dead. (James 2:17)
All people should have access to clean safe water.
Teaching our children the importance of “Love Your Neighbor” is critical to the future of our civilization. At Thirsty Child, we believe helping reduce the suffering of children because of the global water crisis presents a powerful opportunity to engage our children in philanthropy and teach them about our moral mandate to help others.
The Educational Impact
Children are disproportionately impacted by the global water crisis since they are often responsible for helping their family collect water to survive. The result? They have far less time to attend school or just play and be kids. 400 million school days are lost each year because of the global water crisis.
In addition, water-related illnesses make it difficult to attend school and learn. Sick children can not focus and pay attention to their studies. Beyond that, other nutritional and water-related health issues can cause learning disabilities that can impact a child for the rest of their life. All of this is completely avoidable with safe water solutions. One in three schools in the developing world lack access to basic water and sanitation.
Our Solutions
The global water crisis is big, and so it requires a multi-faceted approach. At Thirsty Child, we provide and fund a variety of solutions that are custom made for the communities we serve. We leverage partnerships with a few proven mission affiliates to deliver many of our solutions, providing us with scalability and a rich set of solutions that address the needs of those we serve world-wide. Our solutions include:
Sawyer water filters with a two-bucket stand
This is a globally-recognized filter kit that has been field tested for many years. We have provided these filter solutions for thousands of people.
Wells
Digging of funding wells for communities provides lasting sustainability.
Access to Financing and small loans
Sometimes the best solution is to provide a small loan (usually from $500 to $5,000. to a family or a community which enables them to build or buy their own water sanitation system. These zero-interest loans can be an extremely effective way to empower people to solve their water problems independently. Access to capital is a significant barrier to the access to safe water.
Water Sanitation Systems
Through our partners, we can engineer, design, and build water sanitation systems that can help a community have their own sustainable clean water supply for years to come. These projects are valued between $10,000. and $50,000 in remote parts of the world that have access to a water supply (often a nearby river or stream). Self-contained water sanitation systems are solar-powered, utilize filtration and disinfection technologies, and have an extremely long life-span.
