Women, Water, Life
With the heat on her back and dryness in her mouth, she walks. She walks for miles and miles each day to parch another day’s thirst.
"Water management is a key factor in the global battle to remove the scourge of extreme poverty and to build secure and prosperous lives for hundreds of millions of people in the developing world." - World Health Organization, 2007
Water is life and we live on a water planet, though it doesn’t appear that wayin the many places we call home. With the twin problems of desertification and commdification escalating, water is becoming more and more of a scarce resource. One area hit especially hard is sub-Saharan Africa where theweight of this burden disproportionately affects women and affects the family at large. It is estimated that women in sub-Saharan Africa collectively spend about 40 billion hours a year collecting water.
There is a direct connection between inadequateaccess to water and illness. The difficulties of the long and ardous walks that must be made by women to procure water is componded by theweight of the water on their shoulders. They are vulnerable to attacks or fatigue. Even after the journey is over, another is soon on its way. And for all the effort, the water may easily be polluted.
Inadequate access to water means fewer safe options.It means there’s less water available for hygiene and sanitation. It means drinking polluted water, even when the risk of death or disease is high.
This is a major issue that goes beyond Sub-SaharanAfrica. It affects hundreds of millions of people living around the world who do not have accessto safe and local water supplies. But these deaths and struggles are easilyavoidable with the right amount of action and support. A study conducted byStanford University found that reducing the amount of time spent walking byjust fifteen minutes can reduce the illnesses of children significantly.
Time is the most valuable currency and it is spilledaway. Every day, individuals spend 3-10 hours carrying water. This adds up tobillions of hours a year of useful energy that evaporate from the world. This time spent walkingfor water is time that’s stolen from the community, from the family, and fromthe individual. Less time spent worrying about obtaining necessities would meanmore time spent working towards greater fulfillments of life. It means time spentcaring for children, pursuing education or employment. Time is key to breaking the cycle thatkeeps people in poverty. We can start to make this better today, and be a “ripple” of change.
Action:
- Write to your member of congress forsupport on this global water crises, only through pressure from the publiccomes the push for change: http://e-activist.com/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1747&ea.campaign.id=13493
- You can also make donations that willdirectly fund water projects around the globe: http://www.charitywater.org/projects/map/
- Learn more about this issue, becauseit begins with awareness: http://www.unwomen.org/how-we-work/csw/csw-56/facts-and-figures/
Chris Daly is the Promotions Intern at Earth Action. After high school his passion for social justice began with the two gap years he took before college. He worked for the AmeriCorps program City Year in Boston and New York City where he did community organizing and civic engagement work. It was this work that made him realize this was what he wanted to do with his life but felt limited without furthering his education. His focus is on Latin American studies, anthropology, and human rights work while also enjoying interests including bicycling, blacksmithing, street art, and cooking.