Pepperdine students took the pledge to drink nothing but water for 10 days starting on Oct 10. They gave up all the chai lattes, coke drinks and morning OJ that they normally consumed and drank only water. The money that they would have spent on buying those drinks was donated to the 10 Days movement. This money goes toward building wells in Rowanda for clean water. It is an annual fundraiser that happens at every chapter of the Wells Project across the nation. The Wells Project is the collegiate partner of Living Water International, a nonprofit Christian organization dedicated to solving the water crisis.
Alan Holley, the Wells Project president for Pepperdine’s chapter, said, “[The water crisis] is the predominant issue in the world because people are paralyzed by it. and they can’t move forward in life until they have clean water. Without clean water, there is no development.”
To kick off the event, they held a concert at Alumni Park on Oct. 9 featuring two Pepperdine performers: Dana Cargiolli and The Level. The headliner was an upcoming LA indie rock band called The Royal Sons. Entrance to the concert cost $1 and went toward the 10 Days donations. At the concert, the Wells Project members were available for students who wanted to commit to the 10 Days challenge, and Living Water International videos were shown to better explain what the water crisis was and why it was an important cause to champion. Professor Thomas Fitzpatrick, the club advisor, gave a sermon about the gospel importance of giving water. He talked about “watering down the gospel” and transformed something that normally has a negative connotation into a positive idea. Fitzpatrick stressed the duality of living water and giving water — a message that would hopefully resonate with Pepperdine’s relatively Christian atmosphere.
Throughout the 10 days, the Wells Project tabled in the Caf and accepted donations, but in addition to the traditional tabling, the club was able to track its progress through an iPhone app. Approximately 24 students were committed on the iPhone app alone and were able to track how much money they were raising throughout the 10 days. There were about 50 dedicated students for the cause; this year, the Wells Project really strived to educate and create a passion surrounding the cause, according to Holley, instead of just having people loosely take up the cause.
Last year the event raised $7,000. “This year we are going for the gold — $10,000,” Holley said. “It is a lofty goal, but if we don’t hit it this year we will hit it next year.” They set this goal because each well takes approximately $10,000 to build in Rwanda (where all the wells have been built to date). As the Wells Project spreads to more campuses, taking the 10 Days movement with it, Living Water International will look at also building more wells outside of Rwanda. The 10 Days movement is a relatively new event that was started five years ago at Texas A & M’s Wells Project chapter, which was quickly partnered with Living Water International. Two years ago, Pepperdine started its own chapter on campus and it is a quickly growing organization with about 30 members.
So far, $500 has been raised from in-person donations, but the majority of donations were given online. The current amount is unknown. If anyone is interested in donating, they can do so online at www.10days.cc/give.
“It doesn’t stop here,” Holley said. “We want to emphasize that this crisis doesn’t just end after 10 days.”
