Walk for Water {2012}

This morning along with our Mars Hill community (and many others), 

our family participated in the 6th annual Walk for Water.

We walked our first walk in 2009 when Dylan was four and Ella was two. 

Over the years, clean water has become a cause dear to our hearts. 

The kids almost instantly connected with "the kids who don't have clean water" and D & E often include them in their dinner and bedtime prayers.

The walk each year is a very tangible way for our kids to further connect with the nearly one billion people worldwide who make a daily trek
(on average 3.7 miles) for often very dirty water.

Some sobering stats:

1 in 8 people do not have access to clean water.

Every 20 seconds a child dies from a water related disease.

Dirty water kills more people than all acts of violence, including war.

Diarrhea kills more young children than AIDS, malaria, and measles combined.

There were signs set up all along the walk (about a mile and half to a dirty water source and then about a mile and a half back). 

The bigger kids were interested in reading each yellow sign and filling out the quiz that was provided.

We carried our empty containers and then filled them up in this dirty drainage ditch.

Everyone, including our littlest walker, carried them back to the park where we had started. Mady surprised us all and did a great job walking almost the entire way back while carrying her token bottle of dirty water.

They also had jerry cans set up along the way, each weighing 44 pounds, and they encouraged walkers to take a turn carrying them.

We dumped our water out at the end - they actually had a filter set up that you could pour your dirty water into and then try a sip of the clean water that came out...we didn't stick around to give it a try though :)

We're already looking forward to Walk for Water 2013!

20Liters began as the water initiative for Mars Hill Bible Church. 

20Liters works with local churches in Masaka, Rwanda to provide both slow-sand filters to households and rain water cisterns to churches. Learn how you can help by clicking here.

Previous Walk for Water Experiences:
{2011}

{2010}

{2009}