We believe we can end the water crisis in our lifetime.

Today, I went on an impromptu hike up Franklin Canyon. On the way there, I realized I did not have any water with me. I found a small to-go plastic cup in my car and I knew there was a water fountain at the bottom of the trail. It was 85 degrees today, sunny and pretty hot, and I had a tiny cup of water to last the duration of the hike. We often forget how luck we are. There is access to clean drinking water almost everywhere.

During the hotter part of the year, the average temperature in the Sahel region of West Africa is more than 110 degrees.

For women here, not having access to clean water means hours of painful and exhausting work. Many of them walk miles each day just to reach the 100-year-old hole in the ground where they collect water. And they make that trip four or five times. Not only is that water contaminated and dirt-colored, but it has to be pulled up by hand, one bucket at a time.

The homemade rope burns their hands; it causes bleeding and leaves callouses — even scars. And sometimes the rope breaks, causing women to fall into the wells.

But we can change all of that!

We can bring solar powered pumps into communities and pipe water to tap stands right next to these women’s homes. We can bring time, energy and a better future to 100,000 people in Mali and Niger.

Last month I volunteered at a charity: water fundraising event. I got to hear first hand how dire the situation is in the Sahel region.

Help me play a small part in changing the lives of women in the Sahel by donating to my campaign.

100% of everything we raise will directly fund water projects. And when those projects are finished, charity: water will send us proof in pictures and GPS coordinates, so we can see the actual people and communities we impacted.