CNBC spoke with Matt Damon from Hollywood, who said that CNBC was first exposed to him by a 2006 visit to Zambia.

The Oscar-winning actor, producer and screenwriter co-founded nonprofit Water.org in 2009 with former civil and environmental engineer-turned-global water and sanitation expert, Gary White.

Their combined efforts have helped to achieve more than 43 million people access safe waterSanitation through WaterCreditA program that provides small loans to those who are in financial need.

Damon spoke in April after the publication of “The Worth of Water”: Their Story of Finding Solutions to the Greatest Challenges of the World. CNBC spoke with Damon, the star of blockbuster film “Jason Bourne”, who said he understood the magnitude of the crisis for the first time during a visit to the site. arranged by advocacy organization DATA (Debt AIDS Trade Africa)Bono, U2’s frontman, founded the.

“I found myself… being awakened at 35 years of age with this bizarre platform. And really wanted to do some positive things with it. That trip was to explore all these extreme poverty issues and try to figure out how I can be helpful,” he stated.

“And this issue was just so huge and underpinning all, yet nobody was discussing it. That really kinda sparked my curiosity at first.”

Damon, a local 14-year-old girl, was taken on a mile-long stroll by her friend to fetch clean water from the well. She told Damon through an interpreter, as they talked and walked, that she would be going to Zambia to train to be a nurse when she was older.

Damon stated, “And she just really connected with me because she reminded us of how we felt when Ben Affleck, I, and I were going on to New York City. We were going as actors and you know, that feeling that every 14-year old should feel, that the whole world is their oyster.”

On the CNBC’s latest “Sustainable Future”, he said that he realized that not only was the water crisis responsible for millions of deaths in Africa, but that it also prevented millions from reaching their potential.

He said, “Had someone not had the foresight of sinking a borewell close to this girl’s home, she wouldn’t have been in school. She would spend her whole day collecting water for family.”

“That really got me. It kinda landed with me. You know the enormity of this problem and the extent to which it affects so much people, beyond just sickness and mortality.

According to UNICEF and the World Health Organization, one in 10 people in the world lack access to safe waterA quarter of the population lacks access to a public toilet. 

White, an internationally recognized expert in water sanitation and chief executive officer of Water.org, said to CNBC that the Covid-19 Pandemic was challenging for Water.org. Donations dropped.

It also showed the difference between water-dependent and water-suffering people around the globe, he said.

He said, “This crisis..with Covid began with us being instructed to wash our hands frequently with soap and water and do this vigorously. And to stay home.”

And what I realized was that the people we were working with needed us even more because they did not have water for washing their hands. They didn’t have soap and could not choose to stay at home. Water is what matters most every day that you awaken from a good night’s sleep. It is that easy.