Student Contributor -A. Albaugh
The thirst project is a non-profit organization that uses their donations to build wells to provide a developing community with clean water. They use the help of volunteers to put in the wells provided by donations. The thirst project also visits schools to spread awareness around our country.
The Thirst Project builds freshwater wells in developing communities. Before wells are provided, women and children would have to spend 6 to 8 hours a day walking an average of 3.75 miles collecting polluted water from streams or puddles. The time that children spend on collecting water takes them away from going to school to get an education. Providing safe drinking water drops disease rates by up to 88% over night. Child mortality rates can also drop up to 90% overnight. Along with disease and mortality rates, clean water plays a crucial role in treating and managing HIV/AIDS within their rural communities.
Teachers could partner with this organization by creating a “team” on the website and set a money goal. The website makes partnering easy and achievable. You could use this opportunity to educate your class on the lack of resources other countries have and how thankful we should be to have clean, safe water. This project is a great way to spread awareness in your school as it presents a lot of statistics on the impact clean water has in a community.
