mother's day

my second mother's day since we started the adoption process and we fully expect to be waiting through another one . . .

This year, I decided to do something that would make me feel a bit more "motherly" on Mother's Day. Last month, I read an article in Vanity Fair magazine's "The Green Issue". The article, "The Rise of Big Water," by Charles Mann profiled the plight of the Chinese water system and the rise of the big water companies. I think most people are aware of issues with drinking water in foreign countries like China, but this article really opened my eyes to the SERIOUS lack of availability of clean water throughout this entire country.

An excerpt from the article. . .
"The Rise of Big Water," by Charles Mann

"China is in particular trouble. The country's State Environmental
Protection Administration grades water on a scale from one to five, with three
being minimally acceptable and five a direct health hazard. According to
SEPA, for much of their length, five of China's seven main river basins are
rated at four or five - poisoned by rampant industrialization. Almost half
of China's municipalities - and most of its rural areas - have no systems in
place for treating waste at all. Between a quarter and a third of China's
population still do not have piped water."

Within the last few years, large, foreign, private water companies have been contracted by China's government to turn this crisis around. Surprisingly, even though hundreds of miles of new piping have been laid and new treatment and sewage plants have been constructed, Chinese residents must still boil their water. In fact, the Chinese are so used to the bad water, they do not expect to drink it straight from the tap.

Then, I heard about "A Child's Right", a non-profit humanitarian organization that focuses on providing clean water to children around the world.

"A Child's Right is committed to providing the very best in water purification technologies and clean water systems to desperate children in orphanages, street shelters, children's hospitals and schools in impoverished nations throughout the world."

This May, A Child's Right is working in China, assisting orphanages in Jiangxi and Sichuan Provinces as well as Chongqing municipality to install about (5) new water systems to help provide clean water to over 3000 Chinese orphans.

So, I made two donations - (1) on behalf of my cousin, friend and fellow adopter, Angie, and (1) for myself. We may not have our kids yet, but at least I can sleep better at night knowing that I hopefully have given them the opportunity to get some clean water. That is just about the best thing I could think of to do right now and the closest I have felt to being a mother yet.

Happy Mother's Day!