Friday Night (Water) Rights

May 21st, 2007 5:30 PM UTC
By annisa.wanat

It was a beautiful Friday evening in Chicago with much of the town’s attention turned to their favorite baseball team in the first “cross-town rivalry” of the season (Cubbies won!). But ONE and World Vision supporters decided instead to show their support for more than one billion people in the world that don’t have access to clean water and sanitation. Senator Dick Durbin, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, Consul General for South Africa Yusuf Omar, World Vision water expert Emmanuel Oppong, and ONE volunteer Morgan Granata all shared their experiences working toward combating the problem of lack of clean water and working toward ending extreme poverty. Meanwhile, volunteers collected signatures from the crowd to show their support of fully funding the Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act.

“There is a battle going on in the hearts and minds of the people in the world and it comes down to this, ‘Who are these Americans?’” began Senator Durbin, who spoke of his trips to developing countries and the need for more programs which empower women, promote micro-finance opportunities, and provide clean water – projects that all go toward meeting the Millennium Development Goals. The senator also praised ONE, World Vision and other humanitarian organizations for their education programs domestically, because rallies like this one held in Chicago, “define who we really are” as Americans.

Congresswoman Schakowsky spoke of the legacy of the late Senator Paul Simon on water issues, both domestically and internationally, and how the growing crisis spurned her to action on this important issue. The congresswoman recently joined with several of her colleagues calling for more funding on this important issue. Consul General Omar and Mr. Oppong brought the crowd a more personal perspective on the issues, sharing what was like growing up in a country affected by extreme poverty and how support of the global community is necessary to ending this injustice. Finally, Ms. Granata shared her experiences as a ONE volunteer and how getting involved with the anti-poverty movement has changed every aspect of her life from walking her two young boys to school and caring for her elderly grandfather. She ended by encouraging people to be true American heroes and stand up on these important issues!

By the end of the rally, the volunteers had collected more than 230 signatures on the petition to call for full funding of the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act which will be delivered to Congress this week – showing Congress and the world that they aren’t going sit by and watch this growing crisis anymore!

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TAGS: The ONE Blog, Water and Sanitation