ACT:S Walks for Water
by Emily Armstrong
The “Water Walk,” which raised awareness for the need of drinking water in Africa, was carried by the ACT:S club on Oct. 16. Participants walked approximately 1.75 miles carrying gallon and half gallon jugs of water in order to help them understand, in a small way, the hardships many African families deal with every day.
Unlike American women, many African women and children must walk several miles each day in order to get clean water for cooking, drinking and bathing because there are no clean water wells in their villages.
The idea for the Water Walk came from Blood:Water Mission, a grassroots organization dedicated to encouraging communities to get involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS and the water crisis. According to the ACT:S members, digging wells in villages benefits each member of any African village community because access to clean water not only helps prevent diseases, but it also eases the workload for children who could otherwise be focusing on their education.
Wells also benefit missions work, acting as gathering places in the villages and giving missionaries a focal point at which to build relationships.
ACT:S club is Grace College’s chapter of World Vision’s activism network and has been in existence since 2006. Formerly the club was known as Acting on AIDS, but when World Vision changed its vision, so did Acting on AIDS. Each semester the ACT:S club chooses a different issue to focus on. This semester’s focus is clean water.
This year the ACT:S club’s vision is “God’s year to act,” which is taken from Acts chapter four. The club seeks to fulfill its vision by not only raising awareness and funds for popular social issues, but also by using the platform of social issues to spread the good news of Christ said Connor Park, one of the club administrators.
This article originally appeared in The Sounding Board.