Submitted by Anna Pye,
Nechako Valley Secondary
NVSS leadership students in collaboration with Evelyn Dickson Elementary and W. L. McLeod Elementary will be hosting a water walk on Apr. 21 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Proceeds will go to buying goats for families in rural communities and new insulated water coolers for a local school in Rajasthan, India. Its water system is made of concrete and new cooler would allow students to have cool, clean water to drink during the heat of the day.
This is our second annual water walk at NVSS. A couple of summers ago I took a group of students to Kenya and it was there that we participated in our very first water walk.
We helped the mamas of a small village carry water a few km and she cheered and cried with joy. They shared with us the struggle of having no access to clean water and the heights they must reach to retrieve water for daily use such as dishes, laundry, etcetera.
While in Kenya, we built a foundation for a school and the awesome thing about that is that every school built in the area also has a well with clean water. Students can attend school and bring clean water home after school.
We do the water walk in honour of the mamas and in remembrance of how grateful we should be and it is in that gratefulness that we also learn about conservation. The students will have challenges and notes on how much water they carry and examples such as walk this far for a 10-minute shower and this is how much water you will need, etcetera. It does make us re-think some of our old ways!