As I prepare for a trip to Uganda and Kenya to visit WASH projects in schools that have been completed in the past year by students from around the United States, I reflect upon the passion and commitment that young people display when given a challenge. Three years ago, I introduced a service learning project to students at Highview Middle School in New Brighton, MN after receiving a plea for help from a community in Kenya to fund a water project for their community. As a long time middle school teacher, I knew the students would either embrace the project and make it fly, or it would drop like a stone in the water! Our students heard the statistics that accompany the water crisis such as:

• Every 15 seconds a child dies due to water borne diseases.
• Women and girls walk for hours daily to collect water-usually contaminated!
• 2.5 billion People do not have access to adequate if any sanitation.
• 1.1 billion People do not have access to clean water.
• Once reaching puberty, girls stop attending school without access to sanitary facilities.

The students were shocked and wanted to do something to help! Our 8th grade club, named the project H2O for Life and added “help to others” as part of our Logo. Our mantra became: “A Drop in the Bucket”

The students successfully funded the project for Kathungu village in Kenya, and more importantly weren’t ready to quit after one project. Student advocacy lead to the creation of H2O for Life as a vehicle to get other schools involved in taking action to make a difference by providing water, sanitation and hygiene education projects (WASH Initiative) to schools around the world. So far this year, over 110 schools, churches and clubs have raised, $248,000 for projects. Every dollar raised is matched by the in-country NGO implementing the project. Never did I imagine that our “Drop in the Bucket” campaign would lead to this!

H2O for Life schools received and forwarded ONE’s call to action to schools to sign the petition in support of the Water for the World Act of 2009. Let’s work to encourage our senators to co-sponsor this legislation to help 100 million people have access to clean water and sanitation by 2015.

I hope that our story will inspire other schools and organizations to take action to confront the water crisis. We can make a difference if we work together!

-Patty Hall, H2O for Life