Students participate in Water Walk

NASHUA – Students at 2nd Nature Academy in Nashua on Wednesday learned of the struggles many around the world face when trying to gather water every day by participating in a Water Walk.
Students walked across the school’s campus to gather water in buckets. They then carried these buckets to the barn to give the water to the animals. This allowed students to recognize the strength it takes to carry water– a burden many face on a daily basis.
Deborah Gleeson, head of 2nd Nature Academy and co-founder/president of The Nature of Things, said the school has participated in the walk for three years. Students at the academy complete service learning projects each month. Gleeson said the idea to walk for water came about a few years back when students in the middle school read a few books, including the book Long Walk to Water.
“We started talking about how there are people in all parts of the world that don’t have access to clean drinking water. There’s people right here in this country that don’t have access to clean drinking water, but we can go to the grocery store and buy it. It’s not convenient, but there are some countries that don’t have clean water,” Gleeson said.
Around the world, Gleeson said dirty and contaminated water is being used for cooking, washing and drinking. To top it off, many have to go on distant walks through dangerous terrain to get to their water sources.
“In addition to the water not being easily accessible, it’s also not clean because they’re bathing in the same river the animals are drinking from and defecating in. They’re drinking water that’s contaminated,” Gleeson said.
Gleeson paired up with The Thank You project’s founder Charles Okorie. The Thank You project is a Christian-based nonprofit organization that raises funds to provide the people of Nigeria with the necessary equipment to dig fresh water wells.
There have been Water Walks every year in Nashua for the last few years to raise funds. Okorie, who left Nigeria in 1999, always wanted to do something to give back to his village.
“He started doing a Water Walk in Nashua, where people would walk downtown carrying buckets of water. It’s symbolic in representing what people are doing every day,” Gleeson said.
This was the goal of the Water Walk on Wednesday.
“The kids complain saying, ‘Oh this hurts,’ or ‘Oh, this is hard.’ They’re not used to having to do this hard work and it really is an eye-opening experience,” Gleeson said.
The Water Walks have already made an impact on the way 2nd Academy Students think. Gleeson said she had a young girl who came up to her and gave Gleeson her snack money. The young girl told Gleeson that she wanted to donate.
“I said, ‘That’s a lot of money. Are you ok with that?’ She said, ‘That’s nothing – that’s a small contribution.’ And that was an 8-year-old kid. So, it’s making an impact,” Gleeson said.
She also said this gives students an opportunity to connect with what’s going on in the world around them.
“Trying to think beyond yourself, think about where we are now, and that there are other people in the community, in this city, in this state, in this country and around the world that don’t have all the things we have,” Gleeson said. “Let’s take a step back and take care of each other.”