We walk so they don’t have to!

Seventh-graders in Carmichaels Area SD class read the book, A Long Walk to Water, by Linda Sue Park. The book tells the inspirational story of Salva Dut who was forced to flee his homeland at the age of eleven during the Second Sudanese Civil War of 1985. In the book, many people, including Salva’s own father, fall victim to waterborne diseases. As a result, Salva now returns to his country to bring wells providing clean water for villages like his own. Through these water wells, the village communities experience a revolution. Carmichaels students began a fundraising project on Salva’s Water for South Sudan website, collecting monetary donations from families, friends, community members and organizations. The students raised a total of $1,795 when their initial goal was just to reach $1000! All of the proceeds are for the Water for South Sudan organization created and orchestrated by Salva Dut. The money will assist with digging wells, maintaining wells, hygiene education for villages, and other life-changing, and in this case, life-giving village projects. In addition to the fundraising, we held an awareness event at our school on Oct. 19, 2018, called, “We walk so they don’t have to!” Students walked the longest distance they could while carrying gallon jugs of water, giving students a taste of what millions of girls and women do for hours and miles a day in South Sudan. At the same time of this event, our seventh grade teachers operated learning stations in water quality testing, math calculations for time, distance, and heart rate assessments, and a survival skills station.