It’s Saturday morning and college students (yes, college students) are awake and carrying water for a cause. Andrew Friedlund, a student at Albright College in Pennsylvania, hosted the second annual “Walk for Water” to raise funds for a new water well in Uganda.
Participants carried jugs full of water for at least a mile. To gather support each participant asked their friends and family to sponsor their efforts by pledging 50 cents per gallon of water, per mile. While a mile isn’t a long distance, it can seem quite far when you are carrying water!
A Wake-Up Call
The students who participated in the walk saw firsthand how difficult it is to carry water.
In fact, the Walk for Water was only a taste of the hardship that people around the world face every day.
Here are a few quick facts:
- 1.1 billion people are without access to safe water
- The average distance that women in developing countries walk to collect water per day is four miles
- The average weight that women carry on their heads is approximately 44 pounds
- There are 1.6 million deaths per year attributed to dirty water and poor sanitation
- Over 40 billion work hours are lost each year in Africa to the need to fetch drinking water
And, perhaps the most staggering comparison of all:
- The average American uses 176 gallons of water per day. The average African family uses only five gallons per day.
Sources: water.org, waterinfo.org
Last year, Andrew Friedlund and the Walk for Water raised funds for a water well in Marare, Uganda.
This year, knowing the difference clean water can make, Andrew set out to fund a second well. The students met and exceeded their goal!
Have you thought about clean water recently? It is easy to take clean water for granted. However, Food for the Hungry works to provide clean water each and every day. We ask that you would consider partnering with us in bringing clean water. Share Poverty 180 Clean Water with your friends!