West Virginia University students and Morgantown residents have the chance to give back to Karagwe, Tanzania by participating in the fourth annual Amizade Water Walk on April 10 at the Mountainlair Plaza.

The purpose of the walk is to support Amizade Global Service-Learning’s water initiatives in Karagwe. Participants will carry a bucket of water on a 1.1 mile route to walk in solidarity with the 1.1 billion people around the world who do not have access to safe water.

Participants can earn three hours of community service, and a free t-shirt at the event. There will be musical entertainment, complimentary food and refreshments and raffle prizes from local restaurants.

Registration for the event begins at 12:30 p.m. and the walk itself begins at 2 p.m. Participants can also register online by visiting http://amizade.org and clicking on the “resources” tab and the “4th Annual Water Walk” category.

Becky Davis, intern for Amizade Global Service-Learning and coordinator of the event, says her participation in the event has been personally rewarding and is grateful for the opportunity to plan this year’s event because of what it has done in the past.

“With the money we raised last year, we were able to bring clean water to more than 300 school children in the rural area of Tanzania, install a massive 300,000 liter water-harvesting system for a new school, construct and connect a vital fruit tree nursery to provide families with healthy food and much more,” Davis said. “We were also able to lead workshops on the benefits of Solar Water Disinfection and install ‘tip-tap’ hand washing devices in homes for families to share with their neighbors to increase awareness about the importance of hygiene.”

Last year’s event brought more than 300 students together and raised more than $8,000, according to Brandon Blache-Cohen, executive director of Amizade Global Service-Learning.

“This event is important for WVU and the Morgantown community because it connects us to an issue that almost one-sixth of the world deals with every day,” Blache-Cohen said. “We are very lucky to have clean water out of the tap and in the shower. It’s also a nice reminder that we should consider taking care of our water resources, as they may not be infinite, even here in Morgantown.”

For more information, visit http://amizade.org.

-WVU-

mm/04/08/11

CONTACT: Becky Davis, Amizade Global Service-Learning
304-293-6049, becky.davis@amizade.org