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Ryan Hreljac was in kindergarten when he learned that children in a Ugandan village had to walk many kilometers every day just for fresh drinking water. Dismayed, he set out to do enough chores to raise the $70 he figured it would take to drill a well for the village.
It turned out the well would cost more like $2,000 to drill – but Ryan was undaunted, and he raised close to $3,000 that year as his story made headlines.
Pictured above right at age 9 with his Ugandan penpal, Jimmy, Ryan was finally able to travel to the Ugandan village where his penpal lived and where one of his wells was being built. A film crew began documenting how Ryan's wells improve living conditions for entire villages and free up precious time for youngsters to go to school. The short film "Ryan’s Well" is available on DVD from Kids Cinema Circle.
Ryan is now a 6'6" 16-year-old, and The Ryan’s Well Foundation has raised more than $1 million and built 319 wells that provide clean drinking water to 485,433 people in 14 countries.
Actor Matt Damon and his nonprofit organization Africa H2O recently committed $200,000 to The Ryan's Well Foundation through a matching funds initiative. "It will help bring clean water to thousands more people and help us achieve what many thought was impossible," says Ryan of Damon's support.
Any kid can follow his lead, says Ryan. “Kids can begin with anything from helping out around the house to starting their own project,” he adds. They’re real words of wisdom, coming from this boy who considered himself, at age 6, just as responsible as anyone else for solving a problem affecting people a world away.
Visit ryanswell.ca to learn more about how you or your kids can help.
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