Campaign for clean drinking water
The WASH Network in Berlin unites development organisations that are working to improve access to clean water for people worldwide.
The destination of the German WASH Network activists was Cologne Cathedral. After filling their buckets, canisters and bottles at Aachener Weiher, a pond on the outskirts of Cologne, they hauled them four kilometres through the city. “We are showing our solidarity with all the people who have to walk four to seven kilometres every day to collect clean water,” says Johannes Rück about the most recent publicity event by the WASH Network. From its headquarters in the German capital, the campaign organises this “water march” every year. After all, according to statistics published by the United Nations, some 900 million people have no access to clean drinking water and 2.6 billion people have to make do without adequate sanitation. The organisation believes that water and sanitation are fundamental human rights and should be freely available to all. On World Health Day, WASH Bureau Manager Rück would like to see the German population paying greater attention to the urgent problem of water shortages in the Middle East and Africa. Every year on this day the World Health Organisation (WHO) focuses on a selected topic of global importance. In 2015, the global campaign is highlighting food safety and thus also access to clean water.
Children learn all about water
The WASH Network also shares this concern. WASH stands for WAter, Sanitation and Hygiene. Eighteen German nongovernmental organisations have joined forces in this network to strengthen cooperation and share information on water problems. The affiliated organisations, which include UNICEF Deutschland, Arbeiter-Samariter- Bund (ASB), Engineers Without Borders and Welthungerhilfe, have lots of interesting idea in this area. The Hamburg-based organisation Viva con Agua de Sankt Pauli, for example, works with children and young adults to encourage them to show greater responsibility in how they use water.
World Health Day on 7 April 2015 is focusing the subject of food safety
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