This is me going on a lizard hunt in Bangui, Central African Republic, not realizing how lucky I was to have clean water to enjoy, unlike many other kids around me.

Time to give back.

I'm turning 37 years old in a couple of days, and this year, I want to celebrate my birthday like never before: instead of asking for gifts, I'm asking for $37 or more from everyone I know in order to build freshwater wells for people in developing nations.

A billion people in the world are living without clean water - but how much are they really living? Millions contract deadly diseases from contaminated water. 45,000 people will die this week alone. The lucky ones won't, but still walk hours each day to get dirty water to give to their families.

My birthday wish this year is not for gifts; it's to give clean and safe drinking water to some of the billion living without it.

PLEASE JOIN ME AND HELP MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!

please note: Because of charity: water's unique model, 100% of all donations go directly to direct water projects costs, and each donation is "proved" and tracked to the village it helped when projects are complete.