Students driving through campus can expect some slow moving traffic Sunday, as women from Ball State University walk with heavy buckets of water on their heads to simulate the tedious, daily chore for girls in Africa.
Be Hope to Her is an awareness event hosted by the Ball State's Nuru team. It starts at 11 a.m. and takes place along McKinley Avenue.
Registration will be at 10:30 a.m. in the Art and Journalism Building Room 175.
According to the Nuru International website, girls in Africa spend several hours a day collecting water for their families. Doing this keeps them from finishing school and getting a good job. It leads to women marrying early, having several children and contracting sexually transmitted diseases along with other diseases caused by exposure to unclean water.
Alex Perdue, a member of the Nuru team, said almost 200 students have pre-registered, and he expects another 40 or 50 to sign up at the event.
This is the second year for the Be Hope to Her campaign. Participation has more than doubled, and it's now being observed on 26 college campuses in the U.S., France and Italy.
Perdue said 1.1 billion people in the world don't have clean drinking water, but it's a problem that can be fixed.
"What really touches my heart is this is 100 percent curable," he said.
Participation is free, but the team will be taking donations to support Nuru International. Bottled water companies, like Dasani, are also making contributions, and the more students participating, the more money they will donate, Perdue said.
During the event, women will carry five-gallon buckets of water down McKinley Avenue, and men will line the street carrying signs that tell the story of young women's struggles and assisting women in carrying the water.
Last year, some girls were crying, Perdue said, as they realized how hard it was to carry the water a short distance. Yet, in Africa, little girls have to do this job every day.
Perdue said there were 40 cars backed up last year as the women from Ball State staggered down the road and drivers stuck their heads out the window to read the signs.
"It's a big issue we take for granted every day," he said. "[This is] such an easy thing we can do to [help] fix it."
What: Be Hope to Her
When: Registration starts at 10:30 a.m. in the Art and Journalism
Building Room 175, and the walk begins at 11 a.m. down McKinley Avenue
Why: To bring awareness to the problem young women face when they spend so much of their lives gathering water for their families
How: By having women carry heavy buckets of water down the street and having men hold signs that explains the negative effects for women
Fast facts:
There are 1.1 billion people in the world who don't have clean drinking water
Women in Africa spend three or four hours of their day gathering water
They don't finish school or get good jobs
They are more likely to marry early, have several children and contract diseases
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