Kill Bill star Lucy Liu is calling on Americans to pay $1 for tap water in restaurants to help save children’s lives in Africa.

Liu, a United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) ambassador, has just returned from Cote d’Ivoire in Africa, where she witnessed the threat to child survival caused by a lack of clean drinking water. And now the actress is encouraging people to pay for the tap water they’d normally get for free during World Water Week this week – to help raise $1 million to provide African children with purified water.

Liu says, “If you go to a restaurant and they’d give you tap water for free, they’re asking you to donate a dollar for the tap water. “One dollar will provide water for 40 children for one day, which is incredible. It’s kind of great – you get to go out and enjoy food with people and you get to give back in such a small and simple way.”

More than 2,000 restaurants across the U.S. have signed up to participate in World Water Week.

WENN