Irish students walk in solidarity with children and teenagers across the globe who are forced to undertake arduous and dangerous journeys every day to collect water.
14 schools from all over Ireland have joined Aidlink’s Walk for Water campaign so far this year. Walk for Water is one of many initiatives that takes place around the world throughout March and April to highlight Water Action Month (March) and World Water Day (March 22nd). The aim of this campaign is to raise awareness for water poverty and the lack of access to safe, clean water and sanitation faced my many people in our world.
Irish students walked in solidarity with their peers across the globe who are forced to undertake arduous and dangerous journeys every day to collect water. Often this water is not clean, leading to preventable and fatal diseases. Children miss school as they spend their days searching for and collecting water for themselves and their families. Without education, these children are stuck in a cycle of poverty, with their opportunities for their future limited.
Photos: Students from Dominican College Sion Hill and Seamount College, 2019
Aidlink’s CEO, Anne Cleary, returned from Turkana in Northern Kenya last month, where she was told of children walking for up to 4 hours each day to collect water and missing school. This situation has been worsened by the ongoing drought facing Turkana today.
Across the globe, 2.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water services and 4.5 billion people lack safely managed sanitation services. This significantly marginalises girls who are left with the domestic chore of collecting water and without access to hygiene and sanitation during menstruation, with both issues decreasing their chances of attending school.
In 2017 and 2018, Aidlink constructed or rehabilitated 53 water sources. Access to clean, safe water is a human right and has a huge impact on people’s lives: girls can continue to attend school, families have more water to grow food and less people die from water related diseases. Ending the water and sanitation crisis can help to weaken the poverty cycle for good. You can make a difference by donating and supporting Aidlink’s work. Read more about Aidlink’s WASH efforts here.
Photo: Collecting water from a tippy tap, Uganda 2017
Another way to take your stance against water poverty is to stay tuned and join our Walk for Water campaign in 2020 with your school or workplace!
The schools that have participated in Aidlink’s 2019 Walk for Water campaign are:
Scoil Ursela, Co. Sligo
Loreto Abbey, Dalkey, Co. Dublin
Kilglass National School, Co. Sligo
Seamount College, Kinvara, Co. Galway
Skerries Community College, Co. Dublin
Castle Island Community College, Co. Kerry
Dominican College, Sion Hill, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
Willow Park Junior School, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
St. Patrick’s College, Co. Cavan
Gaelscoil Liatroma, Co. Leitrim
Sanford Park School, Ranelagh, Co. Dublin
Stepaside Educate Together, Co. Dublin
Castlerea Community School, Co. Roscommon
We would like to shout out a huge Thank You to each and every student, teacher and school community that took part this year, giving their time to organise a walk and raise awareness for girls and boys across the globe. It is actions like this that links people and communities, and by supporting each other we can make the world a better, more connected place.
Photos: Students from Galescoil Liatroma, Castle Island Community College, Stepaside Educate Together and Loreto Dalkey on their Walk for Water, 2019
For more information on the global campaign to end water poverty visit:
httpss://www.endwaterpoverty.org/water-action-month
https://www.unwater.org/water-facts/water-sanitation-and-hygiene/
httpss://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg6
