World Affairs

Ke Ai Keiki Thirst for More

by Jennifer Liang 
09/13/12
Not For Sale
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Ke Ai Keiki Thirst for More

By: Jennifer Liang

And the winner is …. Ke Ai Keiki Thirst for More by Melody Ling. Now tell us Melody how did you come up with this catchy title for your first novel?

Well, as most of you know I grew up in Hawaii where the Hawaiian word keiki (pronounced k key) is commonly used to refer to a child or children. Ke ai (kuh eye) I learned while studying Mandarin Chinese at the University of Hawaii and it means cute/adorable/lovely. I just combined the two terms because I thought it was a unique and fresh idea for the title of my novel about the cute children of the world and their daily struggles to find clean drinking water. Although the stories have been fictionalized many of the circumstances are true for millions of children around the world.

Can you tell us more about your inspiration for this topic?

A conversation with my boyfriend Tom when we were teaching English in China is where it started. He was complaining about the electricity being cut off once again without warning (leaving us in the dark) and my first thought was that at least it wasn’t the water. Then I started thinking about it further and realized that many people do indeed live without clean water in this global water crisis. Ke ai keiki are needlessly dying for water every day! I did a little research, joined Faithwriters, and here I am today a published author.

Do you think reading your book will make a difference? How can your average reader help?

Of course anyone can help if they have the desire. Water and sanitation are a big problem in developing countries. I found a lot of useful information from Water4 a company that uses hand drilling technology to bring access to wells (at a low cost) to those who need it most. In the past few years they have literally changed the lives of not only children but their families and villages as well. No longer are people walking for miles to gather what they can carry or suffering from diseases from drinking or cooking with polluted water. I would encourage anyone who is interested to check them out. I myself will be donating a portion of the proceeds from the sales of my book to this specific company.

What a great way to start your literary career! To all my viewers the name of Ms. Ling’s book is Ke Ai Keiki Thirst for More and you can learn more by visiting Water4. That’s water followed by the number four. Ms. Ling, thank you for your time and effort in helping to save the ke ai keiki of the world. I am sure they appreciate it.