Matt Damon's Sahara Documentary Aids African Water Crisis

The premiere of Matt Damon's Running The Sahara documentary will take place on Showtime on Sunday, January 11.

As reported by Look To The Stars in July 2007, Damon founded the Running the Sahara expedition’s charity, H2O Africa, to help raise awareness of the water crisis in Africa. After witnessing the extreme poverty and the value of clean drinking water in Zambia and South Africa, the actor decided to get involved in the Running the Sahara project. Along with Oscar winning filmmaker James Moll, he documented the Running the Sahara expedition, in which three men ran over 4,300 miles (6,920 kilometres) from the Atlantic coast of Senegal, through Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Libya, to the Red Sea in Egypt.

Narrated and produced by Damon, the film crew followed the runners crossing the desert, braving extreme elements and meeting the unique people of the Sahara who are struggling with immense daily challenges.

The World Health Organization estimates that the lack of safe drinking water kills almost 4,500 children per day, mostly under the age of five.

The documentary screens at 9pm ET.