Quenching the thirst

Nearly one in 10 people live without clean water every day. That’s 663 million people worldwide. In Africa alone, women spend 40 billion hours a year walking for water.

This year, University of Toledo students and community members had the opportunity to experience a day in the life of one of these women. The Catholic Student Association hosted the sixth annual Walk for Water April 9 in UT’s Centennial Mall.

Participants carried gallons of clean water along the 5K course to raise money for Clean Water for the World.

Zach Gibbemeyer, a third-year exercise science major and event director, said that the money goes toward water purification units.

“They have both a solar and non-solar one,” Gibbemeyer said. “The solar ones are more efficient since you don’t need to have electricity, but they are both very well needed.”

Gibbemeyer said that 130 participants preregistered this year, topping last year’s total by 20. Even more signed up the day of.

Race and program director Kristy Kagy, a fourth-year exercise science major, has played a major role in the event since her freshman year.

“I think it’s just a good way to go out and show people what you really care about in the world,” Kagy said. “There is a global water crisis, and we have to acknowledge that.”

Kagy said that Toledo Public School students also attended the event for educational purposes.

Kagy is thankful for faculty and sponsors who played a role in putting the event on and encourages students to consider becoming a part of the team in the future.

“The way that I look at it is, clean water is a human right that not a lot of us have access to,” Gibbemeyer said. “This is something that is helping to provide people with that chance to have clean water, that human right.”