In the last couple of weeks more than 26.000 children from all over the world walked for Water.  There were kids walking from 11 countries: Netherlands, US, France, Spain, UK, Latvia, Greece, Romania, Turkey, Lithuania, and Malta.

Last week saw the tenth annual Walking for Water campaign set a new fundraising record. We are very proud to announce that this year € 1.3 million was raised by the children taking part, the largest sum raised during the campaign’s ten year history! Euro 14,300 of this sum was raised by the international campaign!

Here are some examples of the international Walks that took place this year:

In the UK there was a walk organized by the Rotery Club of Chestfield, which works in partnership with its sister club in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. Hundreds of kids walked for a project in Malawi. Rotary club president Kathryn Wilson said: “People in African countries walk 6km every day, carrying on average six litres of water, with no way of knowing whether or not it is clean. Today is about raising money to change that.” A team of children from St Peter’s School in Canterbury were the first back, after they ran the entire route. The kids raised more then 6 thousand pounds, which is an equivalent of €7.200.

Kids Walking in Chestfield

The Oakwood school in Greenville, North Carolina became our first school in the US to participate in Walking for Water. 200 enthusiastic children participated, raising over €5.800 for a water and sanitation project at a school in Bangladesh.

The girls of the ‘Gozo College Girls Secondary school, Malta’ also Walked for Water for the second year in a row, and raised €766! Before the walk they made some lovely posters about water. For example about water resources in Kenya, climate change and water, and water supply in Malta.

Posters Made by the girls of the Gozo College Girls Secondary school

Walking for Water is a fundraising and awareness-raising concept where school children aged 10-13 walk 6 km (the average distance that many people in developing countries have to walk each day to collect water), carrying six litres of water in a backpack. Funds are raised by the kids themselves, mainly as donations from friends and family. The money is used to finance water projects in developing countries. As a preparation for the walk, teachers and guest lecturers educate the children about the importance of clean water and adequate sanitation in developing countries.

Over the past ten years over 112,000 children have walked a total of 670,000 km to raise money for water and sanitation projects. To date, the campaign has raised over €5.1m for water, sanitation, and hygiene projects. We hope even more children from all around the world will participate in the coming ten years to support development projects!

Written by Josje Spierings, Akvo