The current water crisis in Africa stems from lack of access to clean, sanitary water, particularly in the sub-Saharan region like Sierra Leone, Ghana, Mali, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Liberia and Cape Verde. Unfortunately, millions of people in these countries spend up to six hours every single day collecting unsafe water from lakes, rivers, and ponds, causing them to become infected with waterborne illnesses that either result in death or make them too sick to work or pursue an education. Even just spending all that time obtaining water exposes people to highly dangerous weather conditions and steals valuable time they could be using to work or pursue an education. This in turn leads to the extreme poverty that exists throughout Sierra Leone, Ghana, Mali, Gambia, Guinea Bissau and Guinea Conakry.

Children in the Horn of Africa, water are becoming an increasingly scarce resource. The region is in its third consecutive year of below-average rainfall, and is now experiencing the impacts of one of the worst climate-induced emergencies of the past 40 years.