"Give the gift of water this holiday!"

Most people in the U.S. have never considered that the water coming out of the faucet may be unclean and they may get sick. Yet, this is the startling reality for people in the African nation of Mali, where most of the population does not have access to clean drinking water and must travel great distances to reach wells or streams, which are often contaminated. The scarcity of water contributes to the general lack of hygiene and the transmission of waterborne parasites and untimely death.