I often read about the connection between women and water, and have wondered about this, so did some research into why there is such a strong connection between women and water and why it is so important.
Most individuals across the globe just have to turn on a tap and fresh water flows out, but approximately 85% of the world’s population lives in the driest regions, and across the globe there are around 880 million people with no access to clean water.
World Water Day and International Women’s Day both fall in the month of March, and this year the Water Bearers, an organisation inspiring those women who have access to clean water to get water to those who don’t, is using these two days to make a difference.
In most places in the world it is the women and girl-child that collect the water for the whole family, sometimes walking very long distances to collect the water. These women and children often have to walk in dangerous areas, miss out on being able to work or go to school, and have the burden of looking after the health of their entire family.
The Waterbearers has partnered with Waves for Water, an organisation consisting of surfers who deliver water filters across the globe where they surf, and this year the women of the Kichwa People in Yasuni National Park, home to the most biodiverse area in the entire Amazon that has recently suffered due to a massive oil spill by Chevron and oil drilling activities. The team delivered 150 water filters, each of which can purify water for 100 people for 10 years, up and down the river.
While the locals were at first hostile and wary due to past experiences with foreigners creating environmental disasters in the area, the women soon saw the positive results of purified water and were shown how to use the filters.
The goal for this year’s project is for 100 Women to lead a 30-day fundraising campaign to each get 100 water systems donated by World Water Day, which is 22 March. Each water system serves one hundred people, and the aim is to reach one million people with clean drinking water.
We the watery womb of our mother, we are born into this world through water, and we are made up of around 70% water, so it is that women and water are inexorably linked forever, and fitting that it is women that make a vital difference to other women across the globe.
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