By Victor, Bram & Finley, students grade 10
The Waterloop is linked to EmpowerHer, a project that is operated in cooperation with Rotary Utrecht International. EmpowerHer is aimed at providing girls in Burkina Faso with hygiene products and clean water, which are both essential to enable girls to remain in school working towards a better future.
Girls in lots of places in the world are being made to cover long distances daily to fetch water, quite often meaning that they miss school. Providing them with washable menstrual protection kits, means they can better manage their menstruation feeling confident to attend school.
We hoped that participating in the Waterloop, we would experience a small part of what the girls go through and create awareness and raise funds to help transform it.
Students in Grades 6-10 and DP1 were required to participate and all students completed a safe 5-kilometer loop around Papendorp. Every student could approach his/her friends, neighbours, and family to raise sponsorships.
Students carried water, or pebbles in empty, clean bottles that were collected beforehand, to create the weight the women and girls bear in the water-scarce areas. This gave the walk a deeper meaning. At the end of the walk there was a lemonade stand and a bak sale stand. In total we raised 2000 euros for EmpowerHer.