Everyone loves birthdays, there are all the presents to look forward to and a never ending string of phone calls , add facebook messages to the mix and if you are anything like me , you have spent your entire birthday responding to each and every birthday message on your timeline . It doesn’t matter that there were 334 messages to respond to ( some from people you only hear from on birthdays but haven’t had the heart to unfriend .. yet ) , saying thankyou is the right thing to do and that is what you will do.Everyone and everything can wait , your birthday your rules !
Things get a bit complicated though once you have crossed the big 3-0 and are officially off the market for being classified as ” young” ( weird,I know …go figure). Feeling giddy with excitement about birthdays, birthday presents and squealing with happiness at the 50th phone call is sort of considered a violation of thirty something birthdayetiquette and may be grossly looked down upon by your other thirty-something friends. At this juncture of life , bars of soap as presents may not be considered offensive , consider yourselves warned.
But we are not here to talk about the offensive nature of a present that comprises a bar of soap ( or two ? ) .I’d like to ask you one simple question , Would you give up your birthday for a good cause ?
www.charitywater.org is asking for just that , they ask you to pledge your next birthday to help their cause – raising money for the organisation instead of taking presents from friends and family. CharityWater is committed to building quality water projects and provide clean ,drinking water to almost a billion people across the globe. Running into their 5th year, the charity is privately sponsored and operates on a 100% model therefore everything you donate will go towards the project , no administrative cuts. Once the project(s) you have funded are completed , CharityWater provide you with details , photos and GPS co-ordinates of your project.
Water is a life essential we often take for granted , imagine the lives of those who have no other choice but to live without it.
Mumchic HQ Update : After a conversation with the fabulous two , we have concluded that FS1 and I will be pledging our next birthdays to the cause , FS2 is still sitting on the fence , engaged in a cost benefit analysis probably titled , Help a village get water Vs Buy a new nintendo game , I will keep you posted on further developments on that front.
Image Courtesy: charitywater.org
Disclaimer : I am not an employee or associate of CharityWater and this is not a sponsored post.
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If you read this article and want to donate your birthday…try to do it every year for different charities!
The best part of this story is that you implanted a sense of empathy in a young mind. Its not easy for a child to reflect and empathize and gently egging them on this is the right thing to do. Well done.
@livingalifeworthliving – yes, good suggestion, one should *start* somewhere and continue the trend.
In a heartbeat….
Great post, will have this conversation with my boys too. Thanks mumchic