A group of students in New York decided that they wanted to do something about safe water awareness, so they did.
Students at Clarence Middle School, who just started learning about importance access to safe, clean water hosted its second annual Clarence Middle School Walk to Water event, according to a post on ClarenceBee.com. At the event, seventh-grade students :carried two, 1-gallon jugs of water on a mile-long walk."
According to the post on the school's website, "the walk is in reference to the often long treks that people in other countries need to make to have safe water. English language arts teacher Jennie Rook said the school got involved in the project after reading a book that made an impact on her class."
"It’s a seventh-grade event, conducted through ELA classes, because we read the book ‘A Long Walk to Water’ by Linda Sue Park,” Rook said in the post. “The story follows one of the ‘Lost Boys of Sudan’ during the 1980s. The author writes about his life and another fictional story about a modern-day little girl who has to walk to a watering hole two hours from home every day to bring water back to her family. Between those two stories the kids get a picture of what life in the Sudanese desert is like.”
According to the post, "the students raise pledges in the weeks leading up to the walk to support the Ugandan Water Project, a Rochester-based nonprofit that travels to Uganda to install rainwater systems for residents so they have access to safe drinking water."
In the post, Rook said "that while the book takes place in Sudan, not Uganda, the principles that people throughout Africa don’t have access to clean water still resonates with the students."
“This project gives them perspective and makes them think about something they normally wouldn’t,” Rook said. “How we can wash our clothes and brush our teeth without thinking twice about where that water came from.”
According to the post, "last year, students raised more than $18,000 to support UWP. And this year, almost $17,000 has already been raised, with more pledges still coming in this week."
“Some students have partnered with their churches, some canvassed neighborhoods — one even made a video and tried to raise funds that way,” Rook said. “And we told the kids if you’re unable to raise money and can just walk that’s OK too, because you’re raising awareness about a global water crisis.”
Click here for more information on the Ugandan Water Project.
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Article by Kassondra Granata, Education World Contributor