A Liverpool coffee franchise has been supporting a project which helps those who “walk eight hours a day for clean water”.
92 Degrees - which has stores on Mount Street, Hardman Street and Myrtle Street in the city centre - took part in Project Waterfall’s The Big Water Walk yesterday on Wednesday, March 22.
Employees from the franchise walked five kilometres along the docks with coffee urns filled with water in a bid to raise funds for the project. Along their travels, the team of 15 offered the public filter coffee in the hope of raising awareness of the importance of clean water and how the western world often takes it for granted.
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Abi Howie, 92 Degrees’ community manager, told the ECHO: “We have the luxury of clean water and the coffee itself is quite a luxury anyway, especially with the cost-of-living crisis. It’s so crazy to think there are other communities who don’t have access to clean water - it really puts it into perspective.”
The funds raised from the walk will go towards helping the likes of 16-year-old Seido, who lives in the coffee-growing Sirima village in Berbere, Ethiopia: the location of the charity's latest project.
Seido is among one the many women and girls in her community who spend "hours daily collecting water that weighs, on average, 20 kilos”. As the eldest daughter of five children, Seido walks 10 hours every day to collect water for her family.
The water crisis has a massive effect on girls’ ability to get an education. In communities where there is no access to clean water, girls often have to take time out of school to collect water - or in Seido’s case, cannot attend school at all.
Seido told Project Waterfall: "I am responsible for collecting water. The rest of my siblings go to school, and I want them to get their education. I don’t go to school. I have never been to school. I made the choice of staying home and supporting my mother by collecting water.”
The situation with schools is further complicated by a lack of toilet facilities at schools. When teenage girls have their periods and their school doesn’t have toilets, they will often stay at home to avoid any embarrassment. Up to a week of school is missed every month as a result - that’s a quarter of the school year.
It's no surprise to learn this puts young girls behind their male peers in academic performance and starts them off on the wrong foot when graduating and further "perpetuates negative stereotypes about women and girls".
Seido told Project Waterfall what she would do if she and her family had access to water close to home. She said: “I want to go to school. If I get a chance, I would love to get register in the coming Ethiopian new year (September).
"But I don’t think I can do that, as we have to deal with this challenge. There needs to be someone responsible for collecting water for our family, and that is me. I don’t want my siblings to miss out on their education. If we get water near our house, I will start school and we will live a healthy life. Our life will be changed for good. That will be a dream come true.”
The fundraising event was part of World Water Day celebrations, held annually to raise awareness of the water crisis.
92 Degrees' Abi, a 24-year-old from Southport, added: “Being able to provide clean water through this type of work is amazing because the majority of people who collect the water are girls and women.
“They hour and hours a day to collect water, which isn’t even clean at this point. When they reach the area where they are collecting the water, the water is still dirty and is used by cattle to wash.
“That’s their entire life - that’s all they can do daily. The money raised transforms lives. It cost only £24 to provide clean water to someone for the rest of their lives, that’s the same as one meal from dominoes.”
The team at Project Waterfall said 771 million people around the world don’t have access to clean water. The majority of these people live in isolated, rural areas - the same areas growing coffee we use daily.
They added: “We bring clean water, sanitation and education to coffee-growing communities across the world. Access to clean water changes everything. Child mortality rates drop. Girls can spend more time in school. Women can start their own businesses and dignity is restored to communities.”
Since 2011, Project Waterfall has raised over £1.5 million and changed more than 80,000 lives in 7 countries including Ethiopia, Kenya, and Vietnam.
You can donate to 92 Degress’ fundraising efforts here.
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