Living in the U.S., we take for granted that to quench our thirsts, all we must do is walk a few feet to the fridge or water fountain. In Haiti, women and children are forced to walk an average of 4 miles to get clean water, and then balance an average of 40 pounds of water on their heads on the long trek home.
For the first time, students in Sam Clark and Nancy Baxley’s ninth-grade Honors Ancient History classes and Jennifer McGann and Maureen Bergren’s sixth-grade Individuals and Societies classes at Signal Mountain Middle/High School participated in Healing Hands International’s annual Walk 4 Water event, which simulates the experience of having to carry water for 4 miles.
“A big part of being an IB [International Baccalaureate] school is service and action,” said McGann.
She explained that the project involved an element of service, in that students raised funds to help build a well in Haiti, and the walk itself served as the action component.
In their Individuals and Societies classes, McGann said the sixth-graders are learning about the value of water historically in the great river valley civilizations, such as Mesopotamia, as well as China, Egypt and India. She said they connected water’s historical importance with Haiti’s current need for clean water following an earthquake that ravaged the country in 2010.
When SMMHS held its Walk 4 Water event Sept. 14, McGann said the students had raised 60 percent of their fundraising goal of $6,000, the cost to build a well in Haiti. She said she expected the students to reach their goal through last-minute requests for funds.
She said she feels the Walk 4 Water event fits in with one of the school’s mottos, “We can see the world from here,” and hopes to make it an annual tradition at SMMHS.
“I think they really gained an appreciation for water,” she said of the participants. “It added another whole dimension.”
Email Emily Crisman at ecrisman@timesfreepress.com.