Many of us have no idea what it's like to be thirsty, but I do. I spent the first four years of my life drinking filthy water from a pond in Ethiopia. So filthy, in fact, that my little brother died because of the water we were drinking. He was one of the 1,400 children who die every day from diseases caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation. Had I not come to America, I think I might have died too.

The thing I know is that it doesn’t have to be this way. If everyone would care just a little bit and decide to do a little bit, I believe there will be a day when no one will die because of dirty water. I don't want anymore kids like my brother to die just because of the water they drink. I know I'm not supposed to say the word "stupid", but that's stupid.

I'm just a kid, but so far I've raised over $30,000 for Charity:Water in the six years I've lived in America, which has brought clean water to hundreds of people. I'm a kid, but I'm helping to change the world for other people. You can too!

I think that there are things that we spend money on all the time that maybe we could give up so that people could have clean water to drink. Maybe it's something like movies or coffee or candy or video games or clothes. It can be anything. I think it's good to give something up so that someone else can have something really important like clean water.

This year for my birthday, I am going to make a difference for even more people drinking dirty water by giving some things up. I believe in this cause. I believe in Charity:Water and I believe that together we can do things we didn't think were possible. So, will you join me in helping bring clean water to the world?

I have two goals this September:

1) Raise $5,000 in one-time donations from people like you that want to help me by donating to my campaign on this page.

2) Find 75 people who will commit to giving money every month ongoing to Charity: Water. They have this awesome program called "The Spring" that is bringing together people who will make a long-term commitment to fund clean water projects. Me and my sisters are giving over half our allowance money every month to The Spring because we believe it's important. If you would like to become a Spring member, you can sign up through this link - https://my.charitywater.org/donate/thespring?ref_source=tariku and I'll be able to track how many members joined because of my campaign - pretty cool!

The goal of The Spring is to donate $30 monthly, but you can donate whatever you want - $10 or $100!

100% of the money will be used to build clean water projects, and when they’re complete, charity: water will send us photos and GPS coordinates so we can see the exact community we helped.

So, will you give something up so that other people can have a chance at a healthy, hopeful life? Let me know what you are giving up - I'd love to hear from you!