At least 20 liters a day –

This is my contribution to Bloggers Unite for Human Rights – May 15, 2008. I feel that I was only able to scratch the surface but I learned a lot as I studied for this entry. I hope you find my findings interesting.


Water - Ever since the dawn of time, human kind has forged their settlements around its availability. Water to drink, to irrigate the seeds that they had learned would supply them with grain. The watering holes were where the animals congregated – good for the hunter – not so good if you were the hunted.

Water – “Cool, clear water” the old cowboy song says – for most people of the world it is there when they need it, without thought – just turn on the faucet. But one of every six people on the planet lack access to safe drinking water – that is over 1.1 billion people globally. “Deprivation linked to water is a source of poverty, of inequality, of social injustice, and of great disparities in life chances.” (K. Watkins, Director UN Human Development Report Office) Water-related diseases kill up to FIVE million people annually. Half of all the schools in the world do not have access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. This lack of access disproportionately affects the lives of women and children because they are the “providers” – it is their jobs to provide water for the family and the animals – often they will walk many miles a day and wait in line for hours only to find the water tainted.

Water as a fundamental Human Right, not a commodity - Around the world, people are finally beginning to assert that access to affordable, safe and sufficient water is a human right. International human rights law now requires governments to make their best efforts to provide water to their citizens and demands that they report on their progress.* (“Right to Water”, a Unitarian Universalist Service Committee [UUSC] environmental justice report)

Ironically only 3-5% of the world’s water is used for “human needs” such as drinking and bathing. Most of the world’s water is used by agriculture. A critical problem facing many areas of the US & the world is the contamination of surface and ground water by mining. This contamination becomes a two-fold problem because it destroys agriculture – many families end up having to buy the majority of the basic staples because of the effects of mining.

“Water costs nothing for those with everything and everything for those with nothing.” - It is believed that over 100,000 deaths will occur due to the current crisis in Myanmar [Burma], sadly caused by too much water in the form of a cyclone, which has left this impoverished nation with little water that is not affected by sewage or contamination from the bodies of dead persons and animals. Even before this crisis, it is estimated that a child dies every 15 seconds from a water-related disease, cholera, diarrhea, malaria to name a few.

Reading the articles to write this blog was sobering and yet, I believe that major strides have been made in this area of Human Rights. Simply the global RECOGNITION that the right to clean fresh water is one of the inalienable rights of all members of the human family is a start. All it will take is 20 liters a day.

* Some of the articles that I read for this blog entry are:
“Water Rights and Wrongs” A young people’s summary of the Untied Nations Human Development Report 2006 – Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis.

“Right to Water: Crisis and Hope” a publication of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee on defending the human right to water.

Happy Blogoversary to me........

A rather lopsided picture of HB & his momma, I must say - he's growing like a weed - The Shepherd tried putting Anna Dee and her boys in with Gwennie and HB - lasted all of about 5 minutes before Gwennie went after Taylor and Buddy - with the intent to obliterate! So, HB is going to have to be content with his mom's company for the next month or so until we can wean the whole shootin' match - Anybody want a grumpy horned ewe?

I've noticed that several of the blogs I read have had anniversaries lately - You may or may not know that I started my blog two years ago to keep my family anf friends updated on my experience with a diagnosis of uterine cancer. Luckily it was caught early - the surgery was successful and no other treatment was required. After my "recovery" was complete, people asked me if I was going to continue writing my blog, as they said they enjoyed reading what I had to say. What a great compliment that was.

I have really enjoyed the writing and especially have enjoyed the many friends that I have met along the way - sheepy friends, cat friends, spinner/fiber/knitter friends, foodie friends, every day life friends - let's see, have I left anyone out? This is also my 311th post - wow - who knew I had so much to say?

Some things I'm working on - The BlogCatalog Community has joined with Amnesty International for "Bloggers Unite for Human Rights" Day on May 15. "Bloggers Unite is an initiative designed to harness the power of the blogosphere to make the world a better place. By challenging bloggers to blog about a particular social cause on a single day, a single voice can be joined with thousands of others to help make a real positive difference; from raising awareness for cancer, to an effort to better education systems or support 3rd world countries."

I hope you will click on the badge along side this blog and find out more about this worthwhile cause. It is so easy to go from day to day and not really THINK about those in this world who are living without the simplest of human rights - access to food and water, freedom of religion - I am looking forward to seeing what others have to say on their blogs.

Another thing that has my attention are "Six-Word Memoirs" - made popular by the recently published book "Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six word memoirs by writers famous and obscure" Can you describe your life in six words? Not more or less, just six words. I did a page on Six Word Memoirs for my church newsletter - it was incredibly fun to see what people had written. I'll share some ideas about this soon too, so be thinking of your own six word memoir.


There has been so much excitement about the sheep lately, it's been a while since I shared a recipe with you, so I need to think up something yummy to share -

I guess this means that I'll be blogging for a while longer - There's always something more to say.