"...but we do have a Vespa"

Listening to the radio this morning, I heard an interview with a couple who will be traveling 1200 miles in one week on a scooter (well, two scooters, actually) to raise money for an organization founded by missionaries bringing clean water to third world countries (Hydromissions International). This is just one couple who decided to draw attention to a good cause.

Bringing clean water to impoverished communities is an issue close to my heart. A year and a half ago I traveled to Nicaragua for a week to do just that. There were plenty of wells in the community, but they were all open, contaminated wells not fit for drinking water. My "job" there was to help teach hygiene to the community, and we spent a lot of time just playing with the kids too. There was one boy there named Jorge, about 14 years old, who sat out one game of Frisbee because he said his "kidneys hurt." At the time I thought that was odd. I'd never heard anyone say that before, and he might as well have told me that his spleen hurt. Only after I got home did it occur to me how dense I was for not making the connection that kidneys regulate the body's fluids, and anyone without access to clean drinking water could very likely have hurting kidneys! But we are fortunate to live in a society where babies do not routinely die of dehydration and the average 14-year-old boy does not have kidney problems.

So I think it's awesome this couple has taken up this particular cause. They are a young couple, and I'm betting they probably have a scooter because they don't have a lot of money, but they are doing what they can with the resources they have. One line on their website says, "We don’t have millions of dollars or celebrity status, but we do have a Vespa." I don't know whether that line is intended to be funny, but I think it is. It sounds like a version of something you would hear in Get Smart or a Naked Gun movie. "You think you've caught me...but you haven't counted on the fact that I'm hiding this fancy dart gun I have no idea how to use properly." Or in this case, a Vespa (which, fortunately, they do know how to use properly). Similarly fascinating to me is that the couple who founded Hydromissions International spends their Saturdays making soap out of their one-car garage, and this soap is now sold in 19 states (and online). I guess soap and water go hand in hand, but how exactly does one come to ask, "Hey, honey, why don't you and I start making soap out of our garage?" I guess I am just not that creative, and I'm certainly not that much of an entrepreneur. But then again, I think I could be if I just decided to come up with an innovative way to support a worthy cause.

And now it's your turn. If you're reading this, you almost certainly do not have millions of dollars or celebrity status, but what do you have that you should not underestimate? What resources could you use in either surprising or predictable ways for "the greater good"? A particular talent? Clothes you really should donate anyway? Your own blog? If this cause or this couple's journey speaks to you, I would encourage you to spread the word and/or follow this link to donate out of your own abundance. (Or buy some soap.) Even just one month's Starbucks or soda allowance can go so much further toward giving others the gift of clean water.