Last year, the freshmen in Mrs. Juska’s English Class read A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. They were very inspired reading about the dangerous six-hour walk that the women and girls living in South Sudan had to make just to get water – dirty and unclean water that caused many illnesses and deaths among the citizens of South Sudan.
Girls Walk For Water is a service project designed to simulate the six-hour walk made by the Southern Sudanese women. Girls in schools all over the country take the day off from school and walk their high school tracks for six hours in solidarity and to symbolize the women in South Sudan. For half the time, the girls carry jugs of water while walking to represent the return trip in South Sudan.

This project is very important because it shows the girls in the US what women across the world have to deal with every day and just how difficult it is. And it raises funds to be sent to South Sudan. The girls in Mrs. Juska’s class raised over $9,000 which is currently being used to drill wells in South Sudan so the women there will not have to continue to make this long and dangerous walk.

This year, the freshmen in Mrs. Juska’s English class read They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky by Benjamin Ajak, Judy A. Bernstein, Alephonsion Deng and Benson Deng. This book also takes place in South Sudan, and the narrators experience the same water hardships and inequities that the women do in A Long Walk to Water. We wanted to continue the same project that last year’s freshmen class had done so successfully.

There were eight resilient girls who participated in last year´s Girls Walk for Water project, but this year we wanted to open the walk to both girls and boys in Mrs. Juska’s Periods 2 and 9 classes. Our project is called We Walk For Water 2020. However, the Coronavirus has thrown a wrench into things. We are no longer able to walk together on the track as two classes, but we have a plan. Instead of all walking together, we’re going to walk separately with our families in our own neighborhoods and spread the message. To track our walking, we will use the Nike Run Club App to make sure we know how long we were walking for. There is also a fundraising website for our sponsors to donate money to South Sudan and to drill the wells. You can follow We Walk For Water 2020 from now until June 14th on Instagram @bhswalkforwater and @brewsterschools.

All We Walk for Water 2020 donations will go directly to Water for South Sudan, and will allow Brewster High School to sponsor another well to be drilled in a village in South Sudan. The gift of a well provides opportunity, stability, economic development, pathways to peace, improved hygiene, improved individual and community health, and access to education in a region our hearts have grown to ache for.

Also, to help our community members who are struggling during this pandemic, for each of our first 50 donations, Mrs. Juska is going to donate a case of water to the Brewster Food Pantry to help Brewster families in need.

Even though we cannot walk together during this time, We Walk for Water 2020 and YOU can still help the needy people of South Sudan and those right here in our community.
Take pics and post them to Instagram@bhswalkforwater and @brewsterschools!