Living Compassion's experience in Kantolomba, the slum compound just outside Ndola, Zambia, has shown us the crucial importance of clean, available water to the health of a community. Our excitement at the opportunity to provide a well for these 11,000 people reminds us of one of our favorite peace stories. It is the perfect story for launching a section of the Virtual Peace Center on "Kids and Peace."

In 1998, Ryan Hreljac was six years old. In Nancy Prest's first-grade class at Holy Cross Catholic School in Kemptville, Ontario, Canada, he learned that many people in Africa had to walk miles to get access to water, and that that water was often not clean. It seemed obvious to him that clean, healthy, available water was something all people should have. At home that night, he asked his parents for the $70 he believed it would take to buy a well for an African village. His parents offered to pay him for chores, and Ryan went to work.

When he had earned the $70 (it took him four months), his family located WaterCan, a non-profit agency that funds wells. But when Ryan arrived with his hard-earned money, he was told that $70 would only purchase a hand-pump. A well would cost $2000. Ryan was undeterred. He continued his chores and spread his message. Friends and family members began to make contributions to his cause. Soon he had $2000 and went back to the agency. At this visit he received the information that the $2000 well would be hand-dug, requiring many people several days of labor. The officials at the agency told Ryan that if they had a truck with a well rig, they could dig many more wells. The cost would be $25,000! And off Ryan went to earn the money for the well rig! By this time, he was attracting national attention and donations came in from all over Canada and other countries.

Ryan chose to have his money create a well near Angolo Primary School in a village in Uganda. While he was continuing to raise money, his class started a pen pal project with the students of the Uganda school. Ryan's pen pal, Akana Jimmy, an orphan, would later be adopted by Ryan's family and become his brother. Ryan's journey to visit the well when he was nine years old is the subject of the documentary Ryan's Well, a moving testimony to his compassion, wisdom and perseverance.

Ryan did not stop with one well. He began raising money for the next and the next and the next. The Ryan's Well Foundation was created in 2000. To date, Ryan has been responsible for generating over one million dollars. This has funded 245 wells in 11 countries, bringing water to nearly 400,000 people! Ryan, now 14, has spoken before audiences around the world, been the subject of articles in popular magazines, and has appeared on numerous television shows (including two appearances on Oprah).

Ryan has been consistent in his message from the beginning: 1) All people deserve clean water, and 2) The "Power of One" is an amazing force for good. The Ryan's Well Foundation would never have come into being without this unstoppable young man. But it is also a partnership. Both of Ryan's brothers are active in the Foundation as is his Ugandan brother, Jimmy. Institutional partners in the Ryan's Well Foundation include Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief, The Jane Goodall Institute, UNICEF, and Rotary International.

More information: www.ryanswell.ca

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