• Chicas for Change hold event to simulate the daily journey Kenyan women and children make in search of clean water •
Every day, women from Kenya walk an average of five miles carrying approximately 40 pounds of water. With clean, running water available to the vast majority of Americans, few can empathize with the hardships these women face. But a group of Redmond High School (RHS) students known as Chicas for Change is trying to change that, one jug of water at a time.
Working to “help build (their) community and the world,” Chicas for Change was founded in the summer of 2014 by a group of six RHS sophomores: Rachel Johnson, Lauren Settle, Katie McCannon, Lauren Winner, Hannah Winner and Taylor Ray. Inspired by Free the Children, a nonprofit association that empowers youth around the world to make changes both in their community and abroad, the girls began working to raise awareness and help others in need.
Since then, this group of sophomores has already made and distributed blankets to Seattle Children’s Hospital and raised more than $3,500 to help build a school in Ecuador. The Chicas’ new focus: clean water in underdeveloped nations. The girls’ emphasis shifted from education to clean water and sanitation once they realized the tremendous impact a shortage of clean water can have on a community.
“It’s incredible,” the girls’ adviser Shannon Settle observed, “You just don’t realize how many problems are caused by a lack of clean water.”
About 75 participants from the Redmond community rallied around the Chicas last Saturday for the Water Walk. The goal was simple: to simulate the daily journey Kenyan women and children make in search of clean water.
“We want to raise awareness for women who have to do this every day,” Johnson commented.
According to Shannon Settle, the girls hope to make people realize that a lack of clean water is more than just an abstract global problem — it is a problem that keeps children out of school all across the world, and contributes to a multitude of waterborne diseases. Many African families cannot send their children to school because the children must spend their days carrying water to their homes.
To simulate the burden of carrying water for their families, participants in the Water Walk carried 25-pound jugs of water on their head around the RHS track. They were encouraged to carry the jugs for as long as they could manage. Although some could carry the water for only a quarter of a lap, others made it almost two miles. But none of the participants managed to match the average five-mile trek Kenyans make every day.
As the hot sun beat down upon their shoulders, the participants of the Water Walk gained a new perspective on the struggles of Kenyan women and children for whom carrying water is a daily struggle. Most were surprised at the weight of the water and the amount of effort it took to carry it only a short distance around the track.
RHS junior Ally Collier observed, “I was completely exhausted after one lap, I can’t imagine doing multiple miles every day.”
Throughout the walk, the Chicas continually emphasized that they wanted people to realize just how lucky they are to have access to clean water every day. The event was filmed by ABC News as part of a documentary about Chicas for Change and their efforts to provide clean water in Kenya.
The Chicas’ future goals include raising $10,000 for schools in Ecuador by the girls’ senior year. Also, they intend to take a trip to Kenya this summer to learn first hand about the importance of clean water in Kenyan communities. And, of course, they intend to continue their work here raising awareness about clean water and sanitation. The Chicas collected about $700 in donations at the Water Walk, which may go toward building wells in Kenya to provide more access to clean water.
As the weary participants straggled off the field at the end of the Water Walk, one thing was clear: none of them will underestimate the importance of running water again.
Claire Perry is a Redmond High School junior and editor-in-chief of The Blaze, the school newspaper.
Photo: Claire Perry
