the glass is COMPLETELY empty

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Is it just me, or is something wrong with that chart above?

Too fuzzy? Here let me clear it up for you:

$1 U.S. = £.6708 (British Pounds)

$1 U.S. = ₱ 45.085 (Philippine Pesos)

$1 U.S. = $2024 (Columbian Pesos)

(per May 11, 2010 via Yahoo Finance’s Currency Calculator…Unfortunately I couldn’t find the rate of the Ghanian Cedi)

Now granted those statstics were as of 2006, and these exchange rates may have been susceptible to given socio-political/economic, changes, but I think it should still provide a clear picture of the situation. BUT, if it’s still a bit fuzzy, here lemme try something else:

At least 1 billion people have inadequate access to water
· Almost two in three people lacking access to clean water survive on less than $2 a day, with one in three living on less than $1 a day

2.6 billion people lack basic sanitation
· More than 660 million people without sanitation live on less than $2 a day, and more than 385 million on less than $1 a day.

Close to half of all people in developing countries suffer at any given time from a health problem caused by water and sanitation deficits

(The 2006 United Nations Human Development Report 2006, Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty, and the global water crisis)

Almost half of Sierra Leoneans have no access to improved drinking-water facilities, and about 7 out of 10 citizens are without adequate sanitation facilities

In India, 128 million people have no access to improved drinking water

(UNICEF’s, The State of the World’s Children Report, 2009)

A mere 12 percent of the world’s population uses 85 percent of its water, and these 12 percent do not live in the Third World. (Maude Barlow, Water as Commodity—The Wrong Prescription, The Institute for Food and Development Policy, Backgrounder, Summer 2001, Vol. 7, No. 3)


Is the picture still a little fuzzy?...here, maybe this will help:

http://www.globalpackagegallery.com/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=46117&g2_serialNumber=2


The struggle for access to water is one of the most intriguing issues of our time. I’ve always been baffled as to how arrogant people can be, to think that they can actually lay claim to “owning” water. Historically, when the Americas were “discovered” by some of the Europeans, the native inhabitants of these lands couldn’t conceptualize what it meant to “own land”. Today, it is the same idea, but the actors now include multi-national corporations.

When I was in Pakistan about 5 years ago, my mother took me to a stream in her neighborhood. She told me that when she was growing up, that stream was so clear that you could see the fish swimming in the water. If you look at it today, it looks like JIF Peanut Butter.

It saddens me.

But what saddens me more, is the lack of awareness.

I mean sure, there has been progress. Improvements have been made over the years. But I just don’t think it’s enough. I don’t see it talked about often. Even amongst a lot of kids whose parents immigrated to this country, I just wonder if they actually think about what people who lack access to something so simple (yet so important) really go through.

HOWEVER…the problem isn’t just in a far off region in Pakistan…or a city in Bolivia…or a village in sub-Saharan Africa…it’s hitting close to home…

Last month, the Huffington Post reported how water privatization could effect Chicago:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/19/forum-on-water-privatizat_n_543205.html

It would be ignorant to assume that there is nobody in this country who lacks access to water…Just ask anyone who was down in New Orleans and suffered through Katrina.

Instead of spending billions of dollars on war efforts, wouldn’t it be worth to give, at least one, of those billions of dollars towards combating water-related issues?

I’m sure the $2024 Columbian Pesos would be quite beneficial.


If you have seen or heard any goodness in this note, that goodness comes from The Preserver, The Sustainer and you should be thankful to Him for that. If you see any weakness or shortcomings in this note, than that weakness is from me, and I ask The Possessor of Majesty and Honor, and the people, to forgive me for that. Ameen.