What: Bh2o+ Solidarity Event in Pittsburgh
Where: Southside Riverfront Park
When: April 17th, 2010 at 2pm
Nuru International is a global nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower impoverished rural communities to empower themselves and lift themselves out of poverty. Nuru has established its first seed project in Kuria, Kenya, where it is partnering with local farmers and villagers to address issues such as agriculture, access to water and sanitation, healthcare, education and economic development.
Here in Pittsburgh, we are contributing to Nuru’s wide vision for ending extreme poverty by highlighting one key issue that impoverished communities face around the world: lack of access to water.
Nuru is planning a national event, to take place on April 17th, called Be Hope to Her (BH2o+). This is a solidarity walk with women worldwide, but particularly with those in our seed project in Kuria, Kenya, to highlight the challenge of providing a family with water when the water source is possibly several miles away.
We are asking people who participate to walk to a water source, fill a bucket with water, and return to a rallying point carrying the water on their heads. Anyone who chooses not to carry a bucket during the event will walk the march route with the others carrying signs and postcards about why we are committed to having this experience, and will be encouraged to talk to passersby about Be Hope to Her and lack of access to water in impoverished rural communities.
The campaign aims to create awareness about the need for clean water access in the developing world. It also aims to shine a spotlight on the role women play—walking long distances several times a day to fetch and carry water for their families. In 2009, almost $37,000 was raised to drill 4 deep wells at primary schools in Kuria, Kenya—and we’re hoping to build on that this year.
And why the unique nickname? There are three reasons:
“H2O”—lack of access to clean drinking water impacts over one billion people.
“O+”—Many times women and girls carry the burden of water collection for their families.
“B”—Men and women have an opportunity to “be” the change for thousands of Kenyans currently lacking clean water access