Are you Blogivated?!?

“I have signed up to participate in the Clean Water Blogivation campaign. If my blog receives the most votes, I will win an opportunity to join Dr. Greg Allgood on a clean water expedition to Africa and a $15,000 donation to my favorite charity tackling water issues.”

Few days ago, Proctor & Gamble’s GIVE HEALTH program launched the Clean Water Blogivation campaign asking bloggers to post about water issues and their desire to foment change – and to then urge their friends and readers to vote for the entry. The post with the most votes wins $15,000 to donate to their water-related charity of choice.

EVERY TIME YOU VOTE,  (and you can vote EVERY day) P&G will donate

a day’s worth of clean drinking water to an individual in a developing country.

You can vote now, here:

(NOTE: Remember to click through boxes OR the verification email they send! I didn’t … so my own vote didn’t count the first time!)

Per the campaign’s rules, I am supposed to say why I am, or want to be, a Change Agent to help provide clean drinking water to people in developing countries.

It’s actually a harder question to answer than I would have thought. 

I live my life according to something my mother used to say to me often – that our purpose, our duty, in life is to the leave world in a better place than when we entered.

You’ll hardly find it surprising, then, that I am a former Peace Corps volunteer, or that I spent my war correspondent years in the Balkans, Middle and Asia searching out the untold human stories – particularly those related to women and children.

I lived abroad for 11 years in countries where acquiring simple things like medicine, water, food and shelter are a daily challenge for hundreds of millions of people. It should not be like this, plain and simple. There’s no reason for it. And no justification.

The United Nations, at least, agrees. A couple of weeks ago the General Assembly backed a resolution confirming access to clean water and sanitation facilities as basic human rights. The measure got 122 countries’ votes – 41 abstained, but none voted against it. Unsurprisingly, but unfortunately, the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Australia were among those who abstained from the vote.

In my mind, there should be no question that every single member of our global family should have regular access to clean drinking water.  And even with the UN’s affirmation, it will be years before every person on the planet is able to enjoy that right. Which means we still have to act. We must remain involved.

I am a campaigner, as my regular readers know, on everything from human trafficking and freedom of speech, to hunger and maternal health issues. And I am always searching for ways to get more people involved in helping to make our world a better, safer, more healthy place for everyone.

So I urge my fellow bloggers to give a post to the campaign – get involved. It costs nothing, takes only a few minutes and is something we can all feel good about.

If you can’t give a post, please vote. For me. For others. For someone. Or someones. In exchange for a few seconds of your time, an individual in a developing country will receive a day’s worth of drinking water.

I can’t think of a better use of our time.