Grand Rapids, Mich., June 7, 2007 - Everyone knows that water is critical to survival. Yet while most people in North America take safe, clean water for granted, in some other parts of the world people know that it is a luxury.
Just ask renowned Kenyan runners Daniel Komen and Luke Kibet. This spring, Kibet and Komen visited West Michigan to compete in local races as champions for the Clean Water Initiative of Partners Worldwide.
The two men are key supporters of the Sustainable Clean Water Initiative, a major project in Kenya that is spearheaded by Partners Worldwide, a Grand Rapids-based organization that helps Christian business people to work together to improve the lives of people in communities around the world.
"We're in the business of facilitating business partnerships and solutions like the Sustainable Clean Water Initiative, which we hope will make clean water available and affordable, especially for the rural families in Kenya," notes Partners executive director Doug Seebeck.
"While these great athletes hoped to beat their records, their primary goal was neither personal glory nor financial reward," said Denny Hoekstra, a Partners Worldwide member and one of the people behind the Sustainable Clean Water Initiative in Kenya. "They donated their time and talents to improve the lives of the poor in Kenya."
Komen is the only man to achieve back-to-back sub-four minute miles on his way to clocking a world record 7:58.61 for two miles. He runs a 3:46 mile and holds the indoor 3000-meter record. Kibet is the 2005 and 2006 champion of the ING Taipei International Marathon and a three time winner of the Nashville Country Music Marathon.
"These runners are a part of our Kenyan team through one of our affiliates in Kenya, the Reformed Church of Africa," said Hoekstra
During their three-week visit to West Michigan, the athletes trained with local running groups and visited other area organizations about the imperative global need for safe, clean water - and what it's like to live without it.
Komen and Kibet spent three weeks giving presentations and visiting with schools, Rotary Clubs, churches and other organizations to raise awareness and funds for the work of Partners Worldwide.
The availability of safe water is a worldwide environmental issue. Research shows that 1.2 billion people in the world do not have access to clean water and rely on rainfall, polluted ponds and unsanitary shallow wells for drinking water. As a result, thousands of people become sick or die each year from preventable water-borne diseases like typhoid, cholera, dysentery and parasitic infections.
"So many organizations focus on food security and not on water," notes Hoekstra, "which is why Partners Worldwide is putting water in the forefront. Our work in Western Kenya answers the need of a rural community of 5,000 men, women and children. Many of these people don't even have the resources to boil water, let alone the money to buy the wood needed to heat it. We're changing all that."
Phase I of the Sustainable Clean Water Initiative will provide the resources for a chlorinator to be housed on the campus of one of the affiliates of Partners Worldwide. The chlorinator cleans and filters large amounts of water, making it safe to drink without boiling.
In Phase II, Partners Worldwide hopes to introduce locally manufactured bio-sand filters into western Kenyan homes and communities.
Partners Worldwide is working with other organizations such as the Grandville Rotary Club, International Aid and Water Missions International.
Partners Worldwide is a network of Christian business and professional people who use their knowledge and experience to impact poverty around the world, in partnership with the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC), an agency of the Christian Reformed Church in North America.
For more information on the Clean Water Initiative, contact Denny Hoekstra at (616) 977-2624 or Matt Van Til at (616) 224-5874. To learn more about Partners Worldwide, visit www.partnersworldwide.org <http://www.partnersworldwide.org/
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Henry Hess
Director of Communication
Christian Reformed Church
To learn more about the Christian Reformed Church visit us at www.crcna.org <http://www.crcna.org
"It is a serious waste to let a day go by without allowing God to change us."-Richard Rolle, The Fire of Love