What difference are you making when you ask a guest to Check Out for Children? Check Out for Children, Make a Green Choice and Road to Awareness all fund UNICEF’s water, sanitation and hygiene work, providing clean, safe water and sanitation to children and families across the Middle East and Africa. Many of us take having clean water for granted, but 663 million people across the world still don’t have clean drinking water. Can you imagine what life would be like for a child without clean water?
Not having clean, safe drinking water can have a terrible effect on a child’s health. Every day, on average, over 1000 children die from diseases caused by contaminated drinking water. Drinking unsafe water can also leave a child too ill to attend school, which could have a devastating impact on their education.
UNICEF’s water, sanitation and hygiene teams are working across the world in more than 100 countries to change this, with the help of the generosity of Starwood Hotels and Resorts’ customers and associates. We are working to change this to make sure children like Genet Tesfaye have the chance to survive and thrive.
Genet lives in Lode Lemofo Kebele in Ethiopia. High temperatures are common, and during the dry seasons she had to walk for many hours in the hot sun just to collect water. Now, thanks to UNICEF and partners, there is a safe water source less than 10 minutes’ walk away. ‘Water is everything’, said Genet.
Please keep organising R2A events and asking guests to Check Out for Children so that we can help more children like Genet. Remember, just $1 is enough to reach 9 children with lifesaving clean water.
Image credit: © UNICEF/UN09387/Sewunet