I will be 29 on June 19th. Officially a geezer. Older than dirt? Not yet.

I am not much of birthday-celebrating-type guy, but this year, I would like my birthday mean something different. I'm donating my birthday to charity:water -- an organization dedicated to giving people access to clean water. They have had a tremendous success over the last three years and have drilled 1017 water wells in Ethiopia alone giving 455,711 people access to clean water.

But, instead of citing more statistics or show you charts about how dire the situation is, I thought I'd tell you a little bit about my dad and his water well drilling rig.

Here is the setup: rewind 14 years. We were in Ethiopia and I was only 15.

One evening, my dad came home rushing to sit on the family dinner table. Much to my mom's chagrin, this was a normal occurrence in our household. It usually meant, he has something in his mind and he wants to sketch out while it's still fresh in his mind. Drafts man by training, he tends to explain things in straight lines and circles than words.

But that night, it was one of those 'aha' evenings. After bowing his head over things he was sketching on pieces of paper for hours, he rose and resolutely said I will build a water well drilling rig. Driving to another meeting earlier that day, he has seen a water well drilling machine somewhere on the road for the first time and the sight had inspired his wonder.

As he did many times before, when there was a shortage of soap or food in Ethiopia, he saw himself as the guy who would build machines to solve these problems. He was the first person to build a dough mixer, soap machine, satellite dish, etc.. in Ethiopia. You see, for his technical mind, building a water well drilling rig was the next logical step. He said to himself, Ethiopia needs clean water. He was the guy who will build the machine in Ethiopia that can bring clean water from beneath the ground by communities for whom water or the scarcity of water meant life or death.

He had to see the rig in reality, tonight. As many in his generation, he is an impatient and relentless man earning his nick name from his friends "endeT ad'ro" loosely translated as "I want it yesterday".

So, off he went. Over the next four years, he sketched, built, cut, demolished, consulted, went abroad, erected, tore it back, got pissed, got happy, grew older, depleted his resources, almost gave up, went abroad again and again and again...

...and then, on a faithful afternoon in 1999, his rig successfully drilled 40 meters and the clean water came gushing out of the earth into in the air. I have never seen my dad that happy!

He finally figured out an elegant solution. His proved himself yet again that his dream of giving access to clean water to those in need was technically solvable.

Now, as my dad tried to do then, charity:water is tackling the same problem at a larger scale.

So, my friends, as I turn another year in my life and grow some more grey hair, I ask you one thing: Would you to be kind enough to join me in reliving this memory by donating $29 to my campaign at charity:water?

It will mean clean water to those families who are in desperate need.

And, it will mean the world to me.

Because, water is life.