Be Hope To Her Retrospective

BH2O+ Day of Recap Video from Nuru International on Vimeo.

Yesterday, Nuruuploaded a video celebrating itsBe Hope To Herevent. This nationwide event was the first event of it's kind Nuru hosted, and after you see the video, I think you will agree with me that it was a HUGE success.

Here's what happened. Women on eleven college campuses walked through the center of their campuses with yellow five gallon buckets and went to a water source to fill them. Then they walked through their campus carrying these buckets on their heads to a final destination where there was a rally, clean water, food, music and a wide variety of fun.

At the same time these women walked, men on these campuses held posters or helped educate folks in other ways.

For over one billion people, this kind of walk is a part of daily life. You can scroll back through my blog entries to see a video that explains this a little bit better too.

Part of the reason why Nuru did this is because it is raising funds for FOUR deep water wells for the people of Kuria, Kenya. Want to help? These wells will cost several thousand to get drilled, but if you want to give and support this endeavor, visit the Nuru website and donate.

Oh, and if you watch the video closely, you just might see a familiar face in it. ;)

The Bucket

It's emerging all over campus at WVU, and making appearances as far west as Stanford and as far north as Boston College and Gonzaga. It's even popping up all over Ball State this week! (Check out this sweet articlefrom BSU's campus paper.

WHat's it all about? It's BH2O+, or "Be Hope To Her" and what it's about is this. THere are over one BILLION people in our world who don't have access to clean drinking water. They can't even get in their car and drive to wal-mart for bottled water. That's right, they've gotta walk and fill up a bucket just like the one you see above. Five gallon bucket, sitting on top of a little girl's head and guess what else. She has to miss school. So she doesn't get an education, and if she doesn't boil the water she acquires, then she and her family can get six. Five gallons of water weighs about 42lbs. Can you imagine carrying that?

But it doesn't have to be this way. There's another possibility. What if they didn't have to walk 30 minutes or more to get water, and what if the water they acquired was clean?

This week, hundreds of women across college campuses here in the states will be walking and raising funds and awareness so wells can be drilled in Kuria, Kenya.

So when you see the bucket on facebook or twitter (or on this blog), take a moment and think about the opportunities we take for granted. Don't let this one pass you by. Be part of sustainable solutions to clean drinking water and even more.

Visit the be hope to her website and join others in confronting this crisis!

Be Hope To Her

This spring, Nuru International is launching a nationwide awareness campaign focused on college campuses. The event is an attempt to experientially raise awareness about the issue of clean drinking water that over one billion people are challenged with each day. In the states we get our water from a tap, flush it down our toilets, and buy it by the bottle.

In other parts of the world, people hike 30 minutes or more (one way) to get five gallons of water for their family. This trip has to be made multiple times per day. In order to get that water, people have to give up a lot of time to dedicate to water access. Even when the water is acquired though, oftentimes it is filled with bacteria, and is not safe to drink. So the water needs to be boiled. If the water isn't boiled, then people get diarrhea, or have other health problems. This means that their daily routine is slowed down severely at best. In some cases, because of lack of convenient access to medical facilities, this can result in death (an 2.2million million children will die from diarrhea this year). When you have to spend hours each day getting water, and boiling water, there isn't much time for schoolwork, so many young girls don't get to complete school because they are taking care of getting water for their families.

Next Thursday, eleven major college campuses across the United States are participating in an event called Be Hope To Her. Women will gather at a central place on campus, and carry yellow five gallon buckets to a water source where they will fill and carry in solidarity with the women and girls in other parts of the world for whom this is a daily part of life. As the women walk, men will hold posters along the route that explain the fact that this walk is THE NORM for many, many people. Every day. Because water is a necessity.

I've heard people say that it would take $13 billion dollars to provide every person in the world access to safe clean drinking water. That's a lot of money. It's also the same amount that americans spend on cologne and perfume each year.

As I think about the event, and the inner strength of these women and girls who make this journey every day for themselves and their families, I'm excited. I'm excited because I believe this event will help inspire a generation to work creatively and collaboratively to confront the crisis. Not just the crisis of clean drinking water, but the larger crisis of extreme poverty.

If you wouldn't mind, if you have a blog, or you twitter, or you use facebook, will you help us to make the event even BIGGER by telling your friends, and posting a link to http://bhope2her.org and http://www.nuruinternational.org to be part of lasting change?

Be the change you want to see.

Be hope. Be light.

Be Nuru.

Be Hope To Her

Be Hope to Her from Nuru International on Vimeo.

Go ahead and hit that play button above, after you read this blog entry.

In just two weeks, Nuru is launching it's largest grassroots event to date. It's called Be Hope To her, or BH2O+ for short. The event will feature women from 10 college campuses in different parts of the country walking in solidarity with women and young girls in the developing world. Campuses like Boston College, Stanford, Virginia Tech, Ball State University, and good ol' WVU are part of this historic event.

Essentially, here is the issue at hand. There are over one billion people who don't have access to clean drinking water. What this means is that women and girls spend much of their days walking long distances and often standing in line to gain access to a water source. Keep in mind that water is necessary for life (just in case you didn't realize this). Because they spend their days walking to get water for their families, often young women never get an education in these areas. Nuru wants to change that.

Nuru wants to give these women hope and opportunity. And women on college campuses are going to be part of that hope. Nearly 300 people have signed up for the event already, and we still have two weeks before the event takes place. Imagine what a stir will take place as women walk from their dorms and apartments with buckets on their heads, meet in the center of campus, make their way to a water source and walk through the campus in solidarity with each other, and with women and girls around the world.

At the same time as the event, Nuru is raising funds for our deep water wells to be drilled next to schools in Kuria, Kenya. Drilling wells next to the school gives extra incentive for students to go to school and then they can take water home with them at the end of the school day. These wells are not cheap. Another organization, Dry Tears has agreed to raise funds for one of these wells. They are raising $20,000 to bring clean drinking water to the people of Kuria, Kenya. BTW did I mention that Dry Tears was started by HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS?


I'm blogging about this today because I'm totally stoked about this event! I'm blogging because there is still time for you to register for the event, or even make a contribution to Nuru. I'm blogging about this event because YOU AND I have an opportunity to save hundreds of lives and create opportunities for others by getting involved.

Will you visit the Nuru site, or the facebook cause page, and make a donation? Or, better yet, will you register, and join in solidarity with women and girls around the world who do this not just once, but EVERY day.

May you take a moment to make a small contribution to change while you have the opportunity.