Instead of opening up monster trucks, Play-Doh and new kicks for his fifth birthday, Tariku, who was recently adopted from Ethiopia but now lives in Colorado with his adopted family, agreed to raise money to buy a well for a village in Central African Republic. This idea came to Tariku’s adopted mother, Amy Savage, when the family visited the National World War II Memorial in Washington D.C., and the birthday boy started drinking from the dirty fountain when she realized that it was cleaner than most water he drank in his homeland.
Thanks to charity:water, who annually ask those whose birthday falls in September to request friends and family make donations to a charity of their choice instead of gifts, the African boy was able to do something meaningful for his people on his special day. In seven days, Tariku and his parents hit their $5,000 goal!
“We are thinking about celebrating Tariku’s life this same way every year,” said his mother. “I think it would be amazing for him to get to his 18th birthday and look back and see that each year he provided an entire community with clean water.”
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Photo via charity:water.