meet joseph (& see why clean water matters)

this is Joseph. he lives at the orphanage we worked at for a couple weeks. he won over our hearts. (all of the orphans did, but Joseph just had an extra hold on both our hearts.)

it sounds like Joseph's mom was murdered by a witch doctor when he was just a little kid. and then his dad died over 5 years ago too. it's heartbreaking to hear Joseph talk about it.
Thankfully, Joseph and his older sister got to move to Havilla and live at the Children's Home.

Joseph is the life of the party at the orphanage. He is the one always cracking jokes and making people laugh. He writes his own jokes a lot too. He loved to make Crystal and I laugh. here is a short video of one of the jokes he loved. i hope you can understand his accent... i don't even notice it anymore.

(sorry the vid was so dark & blurry... i don't know what was up with that one.)

Joseph works really hard in school too. he's got big big dreams. he wants to go to law school one day and eventually become the Attorney General of Kenya so that he can help the people of Kenya. pretty audacious for an orphan. :)

Joseph lives at the children's home where he gets clean water every day and so does his older sister. Joseph's younger brother didn't get to come to the orphanage with them - he has lived with their uncle instead.
His brother is only 11 years old.

was. was only 11 years old.

Joseph's brother died last month. why? because he didn't have clean water. he died of a water related illness.

i fought back the tears as Joseph told me the story and how he got the letter from his uncle just 1 month before. he told me - "Usually I finish 1st or 2nd in my class on all my exams... but that day, the day I got the letter about my brother... I finished 6th on that exam. I just couldn't concentrate."

i can't imagine.
Joseph and his sister, Hannah, got to go to their brother's funeral and grieve while being supported by some of their relatives. and no doubt when they returned to Havilla they were surrounded by love from their 45 other "brothers & sisters". i can't help but think that Joseph's little brother might have been a full of life little jokester as well.
i'm thankful that this never needs to happen to Joseph. At his orphanage he'll always have clean water.

but the problem is that this shouldn't happen to ANYONE.

ever.

period.

and you and me can do something about it. you've got a birthday, right? whenever it is... consider leveraging it for clean water for the poor. just click HERE and join the awesome birthday bash with Charity Water.
And we all celebrate Christmas. click HERE & celebrate a little differently with Advent Conspiracy. and because you leverage Christmas for the poor without clean water you can save lives...

and change the world.