Hi, this is Ren. Thanks for taking the time to check out this event. Personally, getting attention like this feels uncomfortable for me. However, this is very important to me, so I hope you can feel my sincerity and continue reading.

THE BRIEF VERSION:
It started with this 4-min promo video I saw 2-3 years ago: https://vimeo.com/6202666

Intrigued and inspired, I’ve been following the charity organization, Charity: Water, ever since. What they do seems so great to me that this year, I decided to donate my birthday to raising awareness and funds for them, essentially helping the less fortunate.

To those who donated:
thank you; you stand a chance to get an exclusive invitation to my birthday party (details below).

THE LONG-WINDED VERSION:
Why This?
2 years ago, I stumbled across a video Scott Harrison made, explaining how he created Charity: Water to raise funds and to help drill a well to get clean water for an entire North/South African village. The joy I saw on those villagers’ faces was priceless. It inspired me to have deeper thought about helping the less fortunate get clean water.

More on what I’ve observed: For many years, many organizations have tried to help African people to stay out of hunger, to get formally educated, and to get effective medication, giving these people a better living opportunity in general. However, Charity: Water noticed an unattended niche: the lack of clean water supply! Seen the promo video? If you noticed, the main factor of concern is access to clean water. Every day, countless African villagers have to travel long distances, taking many hours just to obtain water from filthy or polluted water sources.

This gravely affects their general wellbeing and livelihood, and I want to change that.

So What?
Some of you might think: it's just water; what's the fuss? Sure, when we turn on our water taps, we get water for everything from washing to cooking. But what we get is clean water. Having grown up with clean water all our lives, it’s very easy to take its availability and importance for granted. We hardly even need to worry whether or not our water is clean.

Clean water is equally important to these African people as it is to you who are reading this right now. With clean water, they can start planting food and their kids can have a chance to get educated instead of spending time to travel for water, which is not even clean in the first place. Furthermore, when you help build a well or provide clean water service that serves the whole village, you are not just helping a generation, but also the next generation and beyond.

Imagine the vast number of people that you will help.


Why Now?
This campaign is something I’ve wanted to do for quite some time. I’ve never thought of making it big until some of my friends suggested that I go huge with this since it’s a good cause. Moreover, those of you who know me might know that I haven’t celebrated my birthday for many years. Seeing that I will be leaving for the UK soon for some time to pursue an MBA, I want to make up for lost time and do something extra special for this rare occasion.

What Now?
So have a heart. Either to share [this cause? this page?] or follow the link below to make a positive difference in the life of those in great need. Since it's my 28th birthday, I will be more than glad if you can donate USD28 as my birthday present :D (but feel free to donate any amount you like)


Ultimately, this is not just a call for birthday celebration, but also a campaign for a worthy charity.


INSPIRING TRIVIA:
1. Scott Harrison was a former serial club hopper who did lots of drugs and booze. Watch his rise to becoming Charity: Water’s awesome founder in this interview: https://vimeo.com/39301294
2. My favourite celebrity, Will Smith, gave up his birthday last year to support this project (https://vimeo.com/45477845 :)

A lot of you may be concerned about where the money donated goes to. Well, at least Charity: Water keeps me updated on the drill I’ve been funding.

Those who don't have CC or PP and still want to donate, please drop a message below or directly send me a message. We will think of another way to make your donation happen :)

TOKEN OF GRATITUDE:
The top 100 donors will get an exclusive invitation to my birthday party held at @myBurgerLab. Eat-all-you-can burgers and free flow drinks. It will be a private event just for friends and family.

Once again, I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to read this.