Running Towards Hope: How Water is the Key to Everything w/ Guest Dave Martyn

Show Transcript

Jay Lee [00:00:00]:

Hey, this is Pastor Jay, and you're listening to the Daily Sabbath podcast. All right, welcome to the Daily Sabbath podcast. I'm your host, as always, Pastor Jay. And I want you to take a second and listen to this sound. Now, it should be a familiar sound, but also maybe one that we take, take for granted. It's the sound of fresh drinking water. And as we're going to talk about today, there are actually many people living in the world today right now, for which that is kind of a rare and precious sound. And so today we're going to be talking about the global water cris and how some people are helping to defeat this crisis one marathon at a time.

Jay Lee [00:00:49]:

And so my guest today is Dave Martin. He is a music teacher and an educator of 31 years living out in southern California, my neck of the woods. And he's also a bit of a superhero who's been working with World Vision for a number of years to help combat the ongoing global water cris. So, Dave, thank you so much for being on the podcast today.

Dave Martyn [00:01:12]:

Well, hey, Jay, thanks for having me. I bach at the superhero kind of description. I think what I do is just gather people around and we build community, and we're all kind of heroes together, but we'll get to that.

Jay Lee [00:01:27]:

Yeah. And so, yeah, I'm really excited for you to be able to share kind of more about the water crisis and the work that you guys are doing through world vision now. So, Dave, let's just jump right into it. First question I have for you is just how did you first come to be aware of this issue and get involved?

Dave Martyn [00:01:45]:

Well, it's a little bit of a roundabout story, but it starts with being a father of daughters, and that's one thing that we have in common. My girls are all in their 20s. They're older than yours. But I think being a father of daughters and just the dreams that we have for those girls, for having an education, for living a life of purpose, and realizing that in a lot of parts of the world, girls don't have those same opportunities. They aren't expected to go to school or school is a luxury, and it's something that the family can't afford because they need the girl to be at home taking care of sisters, siblings, or collecting water. So just that's part of my heart, is just a heart for girls and for the opportunities that they deserve to live the fullness of life in whatever they want to do and become. And the other part you just mentioned being a teacher. I teach music, but really, music is.

Dave Martyn [00:02:49]:

And I've always felt this way. Music is a conduit for community. The music is great. I receive a lot of joy making music with kids, but really, at the end of the day, the music is a conduit for the relationships that are formed, the friendships that are formed, the skills that are learned. And so it's that value in investing in children. So every minute of positive input into a kid is something that's going to pay off, and that's sort of a legacy that lasts well beyond our lifetimes. So, yeah, just between my heart for girls specifically and children in general, and just what they deserve, that kind of informs kind of where I came to the issue.

Jay Lee [00:03:37]:

Interesting. Okay, so it sounds like there is a connection, then, between this water crisis that we're talking about and sort of the conditions of children living around the world. I remember before we started this interview, you were sharing a little bit about what you were calling sort of the child labor crisis. And so could you kind of maybe pull apart for us? What is the connection between these two things?

Dave Martyn [00:04:04]:

Yeah, that was sort of the next piece of the puzzle. It was 2008. A bunch of us from church went out to see a documentary called call and response and fantastic film. And I think a lot of us were kind of blown away that this whole thing is happening, and we just weren't aware of it. And it was just a documentary that shone a light on human trafficking in general, but especially forced labor for children, whether they're working at a factory, or domestic labor or prostitution, or as child soldiers. That was a moment where I just decided, that's the thing, that I can't just shrug my shoulders and say, well, that's too bad. I have to figure out some way of responding to that. And so I got involved in a number of charities that are kind of focused on fair trade, human trafficking, and a lot of them are doing a lot of great work.

Dave Martyn [00:05:05]:

But I kind of discovered that when you get to the bottom of that crisis, you get to poverty. The cause of human trafficking is poverty. Kids are sold into labor because their parents can't afford to take care of them, or they're vulnerable because of a number of reasons. The next thing that I learned is that the key to fighting poverty is water. So that's how I came around to the issue of the water crisis. If there was one silver bullet to tackle poverty, it would be water. At least it would start with water. A couple of statistics I gathered still now, in 2024, 1000 children under five die every day due to contaminated water.

Dave Martyn [00:06:01]:

It's a dysentery diarrhea, malnutrition. So that statistic is still happening. There are currently 703,000,000 people that lack access to basic drinking water. That number has decreased quite a bit because there are a lot of people that are working on that. But that's still. 703,000,000 people is still a lot. Another statistic, women and girls spend 200 million hour a day hauling water, just transporting water in Jerry cans from a source that is probably polluted. So that is every bit as much of a crisis as the things that are on the news that we see every day.

Dave Martyn [00:06:45]:

It's just that this is an endemic situation that doesn't always get the publicity that it deserves.

Jay Lee [00:06:52]:

Yeah, I mean, that's pretty sobering. Well, first of all, thanks for sharing those statistics, because I think that is one question that I did have, because I feel like I have been hearing about sort of the global water crisis for a pretty good number of years now. I think probably my first exposure to it was even ten to 15 years ago. And I remember for a while that was kind of a big topic in terms of like, if you were hearing about some sort of a charity to get involved with or something like that in church or in other places, it felt like digging water wells and things like that was being talked about a lot for a while. And so, yeah, I did sort of have the question of like, okay, it's been a number of years. Have we made any progress? It's helpful to hear that the number has gone down, for sure. There are organizations that are working on it, and the number is going down, but it's still as high as 700 million people who don't have access to regular, fresh drinking water. So it's definitely pretty sobering.

Jay Lee [00:07:57]:

And thanks also for kind of making that connection. So it sounds like, and you can kind of correct me if I'm wrong, but it kind of sounds like one of the connections then between sort of the child labor crisis or just the poverty crisis globally. And the water crisis is for some people, they're spending a lot of their day just getting the family access to water. Could you maybe kind of explain that a little bit more?

Dave Martyn [00:08:23]:

Yeah, and like I said, it's often girls and women and even young kids, but yeah, if their family needs water, that becomes a priority. So a couple of times a day, the average distance that they walk is 6, little over 3 miles round trip to get to the source of water. So if they're doing that, if they're doing a six k walk twice a day, then that rules out a lot of school. But it's not just the time spent getting the water. It's also if they get sick, if they have a stomachache because there was animal something in the water, they'll miss school. And what World Vision does is addressing the solution in terms of the acronym WASH, which stands for water, sanitation and hygiene. So if you don't have access to water, you're not able to wash your hands, you don't have healthcare facilities that have hand washing stations, girls aren't able to go to school during their period. Yeah.

Dave Martyn [00:09:27]:

And if you don't have bathrooms at the school, you don't have the ability to take care of that in a hygienic sort of way. That's kind of tied in.

Jay Lee [00:09:37]:

Yeah. No, I mean, that makes sense. When you kind of pull it apart and explain it, it kind of makes sense how water, and specifically having a lack of access to clean water, it's not just about being thirsty. I mean, though obviously that's crucial. We need to have enough drinking water to survive, but it touches so many different other areas of our lives. I think I've never really even considered the fact that, hey, if you don't have clean water, your hospitals, and being able to sanitize, right, like when somebody has a medical emergency or needs a surgery or something like that, but even the doctors don't have the ability to sanitize their hands properly and getting sick so often because you don't have access to that kind of hygiene and how that also impacts your ability to flourish and to get educated, to work, to accomplish all the things that you want to accomplish.

Dave Martyn [00:10:36]:

Yeah. Matthew 25 31 to 46 is that story of the sheep and the goats. And maybe it's intentional that Jesus mentions, lord, when was it I saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And he really puts it in unequivocal terms that somehow that act of providing food and water to people that need it is something that makes a difference between those who are part of the kingdom of God and not. So it's just another thing that kind of makes me. Yeah, we can't just not do anything.

Jay Lee [00:11:14]:

Yeah. I think the other thing that you said that really struck me is because I tend to be a very kind of like, systematic thinker, and in fact, my day job is in operations. Right. So we really think about efficiency and systems, but what's the most logical and the most efficient and most effective way to address a problem or to get something done? And so something that I appreciate also, about what you said there is, it's not just that you're thinking about the water problem, but, yeah, it's very strategic in that if you want to address these different issues of human trafficking, poverty, in particular, opportunities for women and girls around the world, well, one way you can address all of those issues is by addressing the water crisis. And so I don't know, that speaks to me just as sort of like the systems and operational person, like, yeah, if you can get to a root problem, to this upstream problem that's going to have an effect on all these downstream things, that's the best place to start.

Dave Martyn [00:12:21]:

No pun intended.

Jay Lee [00:12:23]:

Oh, yeah, that's true. Pun intended. And so I really appreciate just sort of even just sort of the logic of it. Right. Because we don't want to just be sentimental and it's like, okay, I'm going to throw my money and my energy into something to make myself feel good, but actually, what is the most effective thing that we can do? And what is the most effective thing that we can throw our time and our energy and our money and resources into? So I love that.

Dave Martyn [00:12:46]:

Yeah. And it's not the most glamorous thing. And when I first heard about children being abducted as soldiers, I just wanted to go after that guy that was abducting the soldiers. You just want to chase that guy down and bring him to justice. It would be very exciting, but it wouldn't be tackling the root causes and it would be very inefficient.

Jay Lee [00:13:06]:

Yeah. Now, could you tell us a little bit more about World Vision? First of all, is this world vision? Is this the same organization that has like the sponsoring a child? Yes. Is that the same? Okay. Yeah. So if you wouldn't mind telling us a little bit more about world Vision and how did you get connected with world vision?

Dave Martyn [00:13:29]:

Yeah, I'm going to quote their language. And just to be clear, I'm just a volunteer with world vision. I'm not on staff or anything, but they're a christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.

Jay Lee [00:13:53]:

Okay.

Dave Martyn [00:13:54]:

The organization was started in the 1950s by a baptist pastor named Bob Pierce. And he kind of invented that whole idea of child sponsorship. And he was getting people to sponsor korean war orphans in the early fifty s. And that was one of sort of the first things they did. But World Vision is currently reaching 3.5 million kids in almost 100 countries.

Jay Lee [00:14:19]:

Wow.

Dave Martyn [00:14:20]:

I first heard about World Vision in college in the mid eighty s. A friend of mine, actually, his dad worked, was on staff for World Vision. And the worship team I was on in college went and we played at the World Vision chapel service on a Wednesday morning. Then later we had each of them sponsor a child that was about the same age as them and felt like that was a really good way for them to sort of see the world just in a way that they could kind of take in by interacting with the kid. And then 2015 was when I got involved in Team World Vision, and I'll get back to that later. I think what I appreciate about the organization World Vision is that they've been doing it so long that they've really figured out how to do development work that's sustainable and effective. They go into community, they get buy in. Actually, a good percentage.

Dave Martyn [00:15:17]:

I think it's about 90% of World Vision staff is local people on the ground from that community, the leadership is local. And as far as when they enter a community from the beginning, there's an exit strategy. They allow the community members to figure out what they need and they work on equipping them with that and then leaving the community. And usually that's a ten to 15 year process, so they're not there forever. But it's also not like we're going to visit you during the summer and build a building and then forget about you, and then that building will collapse. So it's sustainable?

Jay Lee [00:15:58]:

Yeah, it's not like the sort of like short term missions trip model of things. Those are all things that actually I did not know about World Vision, but that definitely makes me kind of feel good about their model and what they're doing out there.

Dave Martyn [00:16:12]:

Another thing I appreciate is that they're very clearly a christian organization, but they don't require that people that are benefiting from their services become christian. So they're actually welcome in a lot of countries that are predominantly muslim or might otherwise be kind of resistant to missionaries. And then water is a big part of what they do. World Vision is the largest non governmental provider of clean water in the world. They reach a new person with clean water every 10 seconds. So they've been doing a lot and they know how to do it.

Jay Lee [00:16:50]:

That's great. So, like you said, you're not on staff for World Vision, but you're a part of this thing called Team World Vision, and you guys specifically are focusing on water. So can you tell us a little bit more about that? Yeah.

Dave Martyn [00:17:01]:

Team World Vision started in 2005, the Chicago Marathon. It's just a fundraising arm of World vision. It's just a bunch of volunteers that run endurance events and then raise money and awareness for world vision and specifically for water. And the question is, what is the connection between marathons and. Sorry, I'm stealing your question. What's the connection between running a marathon and water? And the answer is, there isn't really. But doing a big event like a marathon is something that attracts people's attention. And so, yeah, it grabs attention, and a lot of other charities do endurance event fundraisers.

Dave Martyn [00:17:49]:

What I found is that the more important thing is that the marathon becomes a conduit for community, the same way music is a conduit for community. In my classroom, the running becomes a conduit for people to gather and experience community. The donors, the sponsors, the runners, and the people that are receiving the benefit of the water. It's sort of this big, amazing thing now.

Jay Lee [00:18:20]:

So all of the runners then, for Team World Vision then are also just like volunteers like yourself, who just volunteer to, hey, I want to be a part of this run that Team World Vision is doing. Can anybody join that?

Dave Martyn [00:18:34]:

Anybody can. You can go to teamworldvision.org. You can find a race in your neighborhood. I've seen people healed of emotional baggage. I've seen churches that were kind of on the verge of dying become renewed and revitalized because a lot of people in the church just sort of rallied around this cause. So there's definitely transformation that happens in the runners and around the runners, not just the people that are getting water.

Jay Lee [00:19:06]:

I mean, I feel like there's a lot of people, just in general, who, yeah, they look to running, or they get into running as a way to kind of address their physical health, but also a lot of times, yeah, I think you're right. A lot of times people, they get into running, and it is sort of like a very spiritual, emotional, mental health sort of a thing for them. It's awesome that that's a way that people could either as a solo person or even as a group or even as a church, they could get together and be a part of doing something like this and also raising money for the water crisis. That's cool.

Dave Martyn [00:19:45]:

Yeah. And team world vision loves people that have never run before. So for anyone, so you don't have.

Jay Lee [00:19:51]:

To be of a certain skill level to do all.

Dave Martyn [00:19:55]:

You can be a walker. You can be a run walker. You can be a couch to five k type person. Really. Those are some of the people that have the most compelling story to share and sort of the most significant experience for me. I was a runner before I discovered Team World vision. But when I started in 2015, it just so happened that the church I was a part of had suddenly closed its doors and I was about to start a team in the church. And when that happened, I just got some friends together and we made our own team.

Dave Martyn [00:20:33]:

But really, those Saturday morning group runs for that little stretch of time, that was my church. That was my Saturday morning church. And it sort of got me through what was a pretty difficult time. It's just got me thinking how a community of people that care about each other and live out their calling together and serve minister together in Jesus name, that's church. And that's definitely what it was for me.

Jay Lee [00:21:02]:

Now, just out of curiosity, I'm just kind of thinking through how it works. Let's say I do go find a run that's happening locally and I decide to sign up and it's just me because it sounds like you got a group of people together and you guys train together. If I just sign up for a run by myself, will there be some sort of organization of team practices? Practice is probably not the right word. Team training runs along the way, facilitated by the team world vision, or is it on you?

Dave Martyn [00:21:36]:

Yeah, there's a tab on the Team World Vision website where you can find a group run and there are hundreds of group runs across the country. I have this statistic. In 2023, Team World Vision had 32 events with 5484 participants from churches and teams. And those 5000 plus people raised $7.7 million, providing clean water to 155,000 people and sponsoring 1396 children. So, yeah, it's a pretty significant impact, but the fact that you've got so many people across the country, you're going to find. I would recommend finding a team or getting your church involved and doing it together.

Jay Lee [00:22:23]:

Now, just out of curiosity, how many years have you been involved with Team World vision and how many runs have you personally been involved in?

Dave Martyn [00:22:31]:

Started in 2015 and the London marathon will be my 11th event with Team World vision.

Jay Lee [00:22:39]:

Wow. Eleven. Whenever I think of long distance running, I'm just always amazed by people who run marathons. I've always been like an athletic person and I grew up playing a lot of sports, but endurance and long distance running have always been my Achilles heels. And so when I think of somebody running a marathon, and just because you volunteer doesn't mean you have to do a full marathon, right? You could do like a five k or something like that. But, yeah, just when I think of people running marathons, it's just incredible to me, which is why I kind of said at the beginning that you're kind of a bit of a superhero to me, that you've done this so many times and raised so much money. Have you been able to actually sit down and quantify how much money you've been able to raise?

Dave Martyn [00:23:25]:

Yeah. And just to speak to your. I go back to, anybody can learn to play an instrument and anybody can run a marathon. It's just putting in the time and being consistent. Absolutely. But, yeah, in terms of my impact, as of today, I've raised $45,822 since 2015. So that translates to 916 kids getting water, 900, actually.

Jay Lee [00:23:56]:

Can you break that? How do you get to that? 916 kids getting water?

Dave Martyn [00:24:01]:

Yeah. So world vision just has a pretty rough, but pretty accurate estimate that $50 will supply water to one person for their lifetime. $50, and then that kid is going to school, they're healthy, they have a future ahead of them just for $50. So, yeah, World Vision has so many different solutions to water depending on where they are. They build dams, pipelines, wells, rain catchment systems, water kiosks. So you can't really say, well, here's how much it is to build a well. And that gets complicated. But, yeah, $50.01 person.

Jay Lee [00:24:46]:

Wow. It's shocking and just sobering to think that only $50 would provide drinking water for a person for their entire life. That's crazy. Yeah, it just really makes you think about, like, I think sometimes it's easy for us to maybe sit back and kind of complain about the suffering of people in the world. And maybe we can blame different people, maybe we can even blame God. But to realize, man, alleviating the suffering, not everything, but there's a lot of suffering that is so tangibly within our reach to be able to address. I mean, $50 for a lifetime of drinking water is just that. That blows my mind, honestly, you.

Dave Martyn [00:25:44]:

So there is hope. World Vision has a goal of reaching 30 million more people with water by 2030, and they're tracking the progress with this campaign they're calling finish the job. The first country to finish was Rwanda. Rwanda. Currently, everyone in Rwanda that lives where World Vision has a project has access to water. So for all intents and purposes, the water crisis is over in the country of Rwanda. The next country on the list is Zambia, which is on course to have complete access to water by 2025, and Honduras is next 2027. So, yeah, it is really encouraging to see progress being made on a country by country scale.

Jay Lee [00:26:35]:

No? Yeah, that is really encouraging to hear. It's not just like this endless thing where we're not making any progress and there's no end in sight. But actually they are seeing countries actually be able to, you know, the crisis is over here.

Dave Martyn [00:26:48]:

Yeah.

Jay Lee [00:26:48]:

Wow. That's great. So you did mention London. So you said London is your next marathon, and I personally know from talking to you that London is sort of your grand finale in terms of your runs with Team World vision. So I would love for you just to share a little bit about London and also some of the goals that you have for London and in know what are some ways that we can kind of come alongside you and support you in.

Dave Martyn [00:27:18]:

I mean, come on. I'm a Beatles fan. I'm a musician. London just has a lot know. It's just a place that is close to my heart, even though I've never been there before. So I'm just really excited to be able to run through the streets of London for four and a half hours and just experience the city in that way. But really, I'm just humbled to be a part of this team of 24. It's just 24 of us, team World vision people that have been invited to participate in this event.

Dave Martyn [00:27:50]:

So it being such an epic event, I'm setting an epic goal of $1,000 raised for each mile run. So that's $26,200, which is huge. And I won't do it without a lot of help from a lot of friends. I definitely want to invite your listeners to just come alongside and be a part of the solution to the water crisis. My team of 24, of which I am a part, our goal is to raise $450,000 with this event. And at this time of taping, we're about a third of the way there already, which we still have 17 weeks to go. So I'm super impressed and kind of blown away with just the high caliber of these people. I'm inspired.

Jay Lee [00:28:47]:

Okay, so, yeah, you got some lofty goals set, but it seems like you guys are making good progress, and I definitely want to invite everybody who is listening. I know that you guys are just meeting Dave, probably a lot of you guys, but just to see the work that he's been involved in and the good work that world Vision is doing, and just $50 to provide clean drinking water for a person for their entire life. And so I definitely want to encourage you guys to get involved. Like, if people did want to help, donate or sponsor you, what would be the best way for them to do that?

Dave Martyn [00:29:24]:

Yeah. So I put together a tiny URL, so hopefully this is easy to hear on a podcast, but I know you'll put a link in.

Jay Lee [00:29:32]:

Definitely.

Dave Martyn [00:29:34]:

Tinyurl.com slash Dave Runsforwater. All one word, capital D. Dave Runsforwater. That'll take you to my page, and you just click on the button that says support me. Super easy.

Jay Lee [00:29:48]:

Yeah. Okay. And yeah, we will definitely provide that link in the show notes. So make sure you guys go there. You can leave the episode right now and go there. If you have it on your heart to donate, come back and finish the episode. So I think right now, at the time of airing, it should be the beginning of February. And so I want to encourage you guys to donate right away because, Dave, when is the marathon in London?

Dave Martyn [00:30:11]:

It's April, early April.

Jay Lee [00:30:12]:

Okay. So it's coming up quick. And so we want to encourage you guys, actually, to donate by February 29, if possible. And I think, actually, Dave, you had a little bit of an incentive for our daily Sabbath listeners to donate. Do you want to share about that?

Dave Martyn [00:30:28]:

Yeah. And just echo. Yeah, do it now, because I know I'm exactly the same way. I'll forget about it as soon as I put my phone down. So, yeah, go ahead and pick up that phone. Follow the link. I have three copies of this amazing book, running for my life by Lopez. Lomon Lopez is a US Olympic runner.

Dave Martyn [00:30:48]:

He's also a partner of World Vision. But he has an amazing story that's shared in this book of how he was abducted to be a child soldier in Sudan and escaped and made it to the United States and became an Olympic superstar. So I have three copies of the book. For any of your listeners that donate by February 29, I'll randomly pick three winners, send them a copy of the book.

Jay Lee [00:31:16]:

All right, so make sure you guys go to the link to donate. And when you make the donation, in the comment section of the donation, make sure you mention daily Sabbath. You could just put daily Sabbath. You don't have to write a sentence or anything like that. And then after February 29, Dave will randomly select three of you guys to receive a copy of this book. And, Dave, I know we've been talking about $50, but is there any actually limit in terms of donations? Like minimums or maximums or anything like that?

Dave Martyn [00:31:46]:

No. It could be one dollars, it could be $10,000.

Jay Lee [00:31:50]:

Okay, so, yeah, I mean, whatever amount you have within your means and in your heart to donate, even if it's $5, every bit helps. But if you have it within yourself to be even more generous, I'm sure Dave would appreciate that. And the people in these other countries who are needing access to clean water will definitely appreciate it. And so I encourage you guys to go ahead and do that. But Dave, thank you so much for just taking time to be on the podcast and just sharing so much. One, just information with us about what's going on in the world, and also two, just for sharing your example and your testimony with us and how you could have just sat by and said, well, somebody should do something about it, but you actually made a decision and have made an incredible, I think you said 900 plus people have access to clean drinking water because of just you running and telling people about it. So thank you so much for sharing all of that with us.

Dave Martyn [00:32:49]:

Thank you.

Jay Lee [00:32:51]:

The closing song for this episode, making a way is by Aaron Michelle. The daily Sabbath is a provision podcast production. If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review and share this episode with someone. You can also check out all of our links in the episode description. I walk a hard road, I'll choose the desert forsake a lash life to speak with the power I got a wild streak in me you know it's who I make it be and I don't care what people think. Now is the hour, Destiny is calling me out I'm making away in the wilderness I got something to say better run through the river I'm making away no matter who your daddy is ain't gonna save you from your sins I know the truth will set you free so come to the water, I'm a preach what I'm gonna preach this word will reach you, it will reach cause the only one who saves, he's quickly coming and destiny is calling you out. I'm making a way in the wilderness I got something to say better run to the river if I make away the changes come on everyone the actions at the root and all the fires burning the crooked I got something to say without any better run to the river the strange is coming when I think of the goodness and all he has done for me. Water my soul cries out, cries out, my soul cries out close.