Costs
of Inaction

Human lives
are the price of indifference

The water crisis threatens all humanity. Infants die from cholera; people drink contaminated water and women walk for miles a day, only to reach tainted water sources. Our inaction will destroy us. If we continue to drag our feet, we will condemn billions more to poverty, disease and death. Water is not a commodity ­ it is a necessity for life.

Sick In The Toes

For years the owners of the apartment complexes across the road have been draining their sewage and human refuse into the playground of Ezra Gumbe, a primary school in East Africa. Francisca Howalla is the Head Teacher of Ezra Gumbe. She stands in the driest part of the playground and uses her finger to trace the streams of disease-ridden water as they flow across the road in small hand-dug trenches. "This swamp formed right in the middle of the playground and it makes the children sick," she says. "We treat about 30 children a week for diarrhoea or malaria."

All across the world children are dying from improper sanitation. John Mark, Marcos, and Babu are students at Ezra Gumbe. They are about ten years old and, like all children, they love to play. "Some water at our school is not clean," John Mark says. "When we are running over the field here, sometimes our legs are sick in the toes." Both John Mark and Marcos bend over and point to their feet. The illness they speak of is most likely Bilharzia. Bilharzia is caused by parasitic worms that infest water contaminated by urine or

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faeces. The worms enter through the feet and cause a rash and pain ­ which John Mark, Marcos and Babu all say they have experienced.Without quick medical attention, Bilharzia can damage the liver, intestines, bladder, and lungs, and eventually lead to death.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child specifically states that children have an "inalienable right to engage in play and recreational activities." Not only are the young people of Ezra Gumbe being robbed of their health, they are being robbed of their ability to be children. They cannot play. They cannot run, enjoy themselves or be happy without risking a fatal illness. Could anyone be happy under these conditions? Still, when John Mark, Marcos and Babu were asked to make a funny face for the camera, they were absolutely delighted. This is the beauty of the child spirit. It is one of the purest and most powerful forces for peace and happiness, and this is why it must be protected and nurtured.

Bart Abbott, USA

Diarrhoea kills 1 child every 3 minutes.

In most of the developing world, unclean water is a greater threat to
human lives than violent conflict.

Right now almost half the population of the developing world suffer from diseases
because of dirty water and inadequate sanitation.