Wednesday, August 5, 2009

H2O for Life- The tough facts about water!

Many children around the world lack access to basic water, sanitation and hygiene education in their schools. Imagine a long school day, where there is no place to get a drink of water nearby, if a latrine is available it is shared by too many students, and hand-washing education and facilities are non-existant. For many schools in developing countries, this is fact!


Lack of water greatly impacts the lives of woman and girls. They are responsible for gathering water for their family needs. Girls often are not able to attend school due to the hours needed to gather water. The water they do collect is usually from contaminated water sources and is heavy to carry! Multiple journeys are required every day.


Toilets are often unavailable or very over used. Statistics show that girls stop attending school upon reaching puberty due to lack of privacy and a decent place to use the bathroom.


Handwashing is a simple way to combat disease, yet in most schools handwashing facitlities are at best limited or unavailable.



  • Every 15 seconds a child dies form lack of access to clean water

  • Women and children can spend up to 60% of their day walking for water

  • 4,500 children die each day due to lack of water and basic sanitation

  • 1.1 billion people lack access to safe water

  • 2.1 billion people lack access to basic sanitation

  • Without access to a latrine, girls stop going to school upon reaching puberty


Fortunately, these problems can be solved! Last year, H2O for Life Schools raised funds needed to bring water, sanitation and hygiene education to 70 schools around the world. Schools around the US learned about the water crisis, studied the issue, and planned activities and events that raised funds for a partner school. Your school or organization is invited to join us this year! Together we can make a difference! Visit: www.h2oforlifeschools.org to learn how to join our service learning opportunity. We need your help today!

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