History of the 48 Hour Practice
In the fall of 2004 UW Student Athlete leaders in Athletes in Action, a registered UW student organization, attended a Jars of Clay concert. During the concert the band shared about their recent trip to Africa, and how they were moved to do something about the AIDS crisis there. They also shared about the impact clean water can make in areas of AIDS ravaged Africa and that $1 can give clean water to 1 person for a year (a UNICEF statistic). This lead them to start an organization called Blood:Water Mission
to help provide clean blood and water supplies to these areas.
In the past, world issues like AIDS, famine, drought, etc always seemed so big that we felt helpless to do anything about it. Learning this statistic though, blew our categories, and we realized that we could make a difference for people in Africa. We decided to use the gifts we were given, those of athletics, to help. From this the idea for the 48 Hour Practice was born. Our desire is to put our faith in action and take Jesus' words, to help those in need, seriously. (While AIA is a Christian organization, this event is non-religious and we believe the cause is one that everyone can get behind.)
From April 25th-27th, 2005 over 150 University of Wisconsin student athletes participated in the first 48 Hour Practice, with each UW team taking 2 one hour shifts to "practice" in the center of campus (Library Mall). The event raised nearly $3,800 which went to Blood:Water Mission, the organization Jars of Clay started. This money helped place clean water wells in Lewala and Kisumu, Kenya. Blood:Water Mission has also placed clean water wells in Uganda, Zambia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ghana, CAR, and Liberia.
The event was repeated in Spring of 2006 and 2007 and altogether have raised over $15,000 for clean water wells.
This year, we are excited to have the University of Arizona replicate the 48 Hour Practice on their campus.
