The Wells Project is putting on a free concert tonight at 6 on Alumni Park to raise awareness for the 10 Days campaign starting Oct. 10. The college-wide campaign encourages college students to give up drinking anything but water for 10 days and donate the money they would have spent on other beverages to help build wells for fresh water access in Rwanda.
Headliner Phil Wickham, a Christian singer and songwriter from San Diego, will be kicking off the concert tour here at Pepperdine before continuing to raise awareness at other universities and churches throughout Oklahoma and Texas.
Living Water International, The Wells Project’s parent organization, presented at chapel last semester about its goal to provide water to those in need in Jesus’ name, and it has completed nearly 10,000 projects in 26 countries. Pepperdine’s student group, which now boasts nearly 70 members, joined the ranks with 20 other college campuses to raise awareness and money for well building in Rwanda.
Senior and Vice President Andrew Shearer said that this free concert, financed by the Inter-Club Council and outside donors, will be a great opportunity for students and the Malibu community to be introduced to the organization and get a feel for the meaning of the campaign.
“It will be great for everyone to get together and worship as a community,” Shearer said. “The 10 Days campaign is one way that the Lord is calling on all of us to serve.”
Shearer reported that the campaign will be taking place on nearly 50 college campuses around the country, including neighboring universities Azusa Pacific and USC. There will be tables in the Caf as well as devotionals and other informational gatherings to help promote the campaign when it starts Oct. 10. Shearer hopes that other campus groups will want to become involved.
“With 884 million people in the world that are living without access to clean water, we feel like it’s really important to start getting people involved to help,” Shearer said. “Other campus groups like the International Justice Mission are definitely working at similar projects, to help those in need by enabling them to make positive change but not make them dependent.”
The free concert is expected to draw a crowd of more than 1,000 students and Malibu residents, according to Shearer.