Greater Nashua
Thank You Project celebrates a decade of Water Walks
NASHUA - For the past 10 years, Charles Okorie has been leading residents, students and even elected officials from Greeley Park to the Nashua River for the annual Water Walk. After immigrating to the U.S. in 1999, Okorie, stayed in contact with his friends and family in his native Nigeria -- a place where clean drinking water is a rare commodity. “Things were not getting better,” he said during this year’s Water Walk on Sept. 13. Okorie, who is now chairman of the Thank You Project, said 100,000 Nigerian children under age five die every year from contaminated water -- a number that is greater than the population of Nashua. He also said the average life expectancy in that part of the world is 54 whereas the U.S. has an average life expectancy of 78. Despite being more than 5,200 miles from home, Okorie knew he had to do something to help. His idea was to host a Water ...
