A Great Way To Learn!

This past Friday the three C's came to Papa and Grandma's for an overnight stay. It was one of those quick visits since we had obligations early on Saturday morning. We had a good evening except for Chloe feeling a bit under the weather, but we all went to bed early and Chloe woke up the next morning "feeling great". Our obligation was to take part in a 2-5K Walk4Water  raising funds for clean water wells in Africa. The three C's are already good hikers, which they often do with their parents, and so I was sure this walk would be a breeze at least for Claire and Chloe. Paula met us in the morning and Mommy and Chris went to an adjacent park and creek to hang out and play while the girls and I took part in the walk. We carried buckets and eventually filled them with water to experience just a bit of what it feels like to carry water each day. Small learning centers were set up along the way where we could stop and listen and watch demonstrations in order to see and understand what the African citizens go through to obtain clean water every day as well as learn ways for us to conserve our water here at home. Claire and Chloe took in a lot of information and it touched their hearts to learn how hard life is for some people.

Here we are just before heading out on our walk. I loved their touch of the wild animal hats they wore.

 

 

 

 

Along the way.... an African drummer group.

 



 

 

Below the girls, learning about the few drops of water that are used to wash hands along with a bar of soap on a string in order to use the best hygiene possible. The key is to shake off the excess water after washing with soap and not to touch your clothes which may be dirty and contaminated. The setup of the water bottles on strings along with the bar of soap was very interesting and creative.

 

 

 

After filling our buckets with water we continued on. I was very proud of the girls carrying the water. Towards the end I did encourage them to pour some of their water in my bucket as they were really quite heavy for them. At the end of the walk they had an authentic water container much like what the people use and neither girl could even lift it. It made an impression that African children must learn to carry that heavy load.

 

 

 



 



After the walk we met up with Chris and Paula for a quick snack, short rest, and then headed over to the playground area for a little time to play. Chris had a great morning with his Mommy. The last picture is Chris and Humpty Dumpty taken by Paula while we were walking.

 

 

 

 

I am looking forward to next year hopefully to once again take part in this walk and will also be looking for other opportunities available to learn while having fun. I for one, am very, very, guilty of taking my water for granted. I plan to consciously try and cut back on my water use for many reasons including the fact that our area is facing a summer of drought.

 

Happy Spring!