Good Celebrity: Matt Damon establishes H2O Africa Foundation

Matt Damon traveled with his brother Kyle to Zambia in 2006 to see first hand the difficult living situation for people there.

Establishing the H2O Africa Foundation, Damon, 37, hopes the work he’s done will now inspire others to do the same. “I think many of our problems would be solved if people had thick passports,” he says. “There’s just no substitute for actually going and seeing things.”

When you’re a celebrity, he observes, “you start to feel a level of responsibility to direct attention to things that actually matter more than to silly things like who you’re dating.”

Case in point: “The world water crisis is one of the most important public health issues of our time. Clean water can help put people on the first run of the development ladder.”

People

Zambia is one of the world’s poorest countries, affected by AIDS and a growing population. An estimated 68% of the population lives below the poverty line, with a life expectancy of 40 years. There are 729 maternal deaths at birth per 100,000.

The CIA factbook lists potential diseases in the water as including Hepatitis A, diarrhea, schistosomiasis (a parasite that affects growth and cognitive development in children), and typhoid fever. It also says that malaria and plague are found, and the risk of these diseases is very high.

According to the H20 Africa Foundation’s website, a child dies every 15 seconds in Africa from a disease caused by dirty water. Matt Damon tells a touching story in his personal statement on the site about being motivated to help after walking two miles with a 14 year-old girl to the nearest water source for her village. She told him her dream was to move to a nearby city and become a nurse.

You can donate to water and infrastructure projects in Africa through the H2O Africa Foundation’s website. The website says that for every dollar donated it will be matched, and 100% of the donations will go to the projects.

Zambia facts from Wiki and CIA.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are shown at the “2nd Annual Ante Up for Africa - No Limit Texas Hold-Em Tournament” in Las Vegas on 7/2/08. Credit: Judy Eddy / WENN

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