**When a few friends asked what I wanted for my birthday,I know I said gift cards to Forever 21 or something to help me live out here in California, but I realized that with all my blessings in my life, I should use my birthday as a way to give back and raise awareness about a cause that I believe is really important. So SCRATCH what I'd said for my birthday and READ BELOW please :) 

I attended LeaderShape Memphis in May 2011 as an Emerging Leader at the University of Memphis. In one of the activities of the week, participants were asked to list a cause/effort that was important to us. Raising awareness and funds to create a world where there is clean water for everyone, beginning in Africa, was my chosen cause. Upon further thought and discussion, I realized that my goal of having clean water for EVERYONE, really IS a tangible and attainable goal. Other then funding, there is no reason why clean water should not be accessible to everyone. Raising awareness about what YOU can do to help conserve water (like turning off the faucet when brushing teeth, taking shorter showers, etc). The minimum amount for putting a well in Africa is $4,000. I want to raise more than that to be able to make an even bigger difference. 

FACT: Half of the world's hospitalizations are due to water-related diseases. FACT: Waterborne disease cause 1.4 million deaths in children every year. FACT: Every 20 seconds, a child dies from a water-related disease. FACT: Only 63%of the world's pop have access to to improved sanitation. I want to change that percentage to 100%. It's not going to be easy and it's certainly not something I can do by myself. Whoever is reading this-if YOU take the opportunity to raise awareness and just do a little research on ways that YOU can help conserve water and help raise money for my cause, you'll be creating a better world for yourself and the ones you love. Love and peace! Thank you for taking the time to read this and being involved with my cause. ~Katelyn Nichols