New Albany Water: Walk raises awareness for clean water struggle in Africa.
NEW ALBANY — Most people living in America don’t have to think too much about where and how to get clean water.
More than 70 people participated in the Water:Walk at the New Albany riverfront, hosted for the second year by Trinity United Methodist Church in partnership with Blood:Water, an organization that works with community partners in sub-Saharan Africa to improve access to clean water and HIV/AIDS education.
Carrying jugs of water on a 3- or 5K walk, adults and children from Southern Indiana and Louisville got a taste of what it is like for the people who have to walk miles multiple times a day to get water.
“So after that long walk that they have, they go home and use the water for drinking and cleaning and it makes them sick.” Blood:Water was founded in 2004 by members of the Christian rock band Jars of Clay, after it became aware of the struggle the HIV/AIDS crisis the country was experiencing.
“When they went over to Africa, they found out that the water crisis and the HIV/AIDS crisis, they’re actually interwoven,” Milicevic said.
“Even when it seems like you don’t have a lot of things, it’s very important to be able to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.
“It’s eye-opening … kind of an awareness of what is happening in other countries and other worlds that we’re not a part of.” He said all along the walk, the parents talked with their kids about what it means.
“I think it’s a great way for all the other Boy Scouts to know [how to help] people whenever they’re in crisis,” he said.
And [this] is a great way for the Boy Scouts to know how to do that stuff.” Sharon Maetschke, Trinity member and one of the event organizers, said the day was a success — even though attendance was down in the second year, the funding looked to be nearing the same at around $3,400.