Photo: Dan Tyler/CWS

Walking for water

Recently, long-time CROP Walker Henry Jones left his home in Fullerton, California, on a trip to Kenya. Jones recalls his visit to a drought-stricken Maasai community in the Narok District where he “visited a new deep well bringing clean water to a village. Before, some women carried water for over 10 miles, and the water was making them and their families sick.”

As is the common practice throughout the region, the women use 20-liter plastic jugs, which they strap onto their head for the trek to and from the water source. This so impressed Jones that he decided to bring one of these jugs home to show his fellow CROP Walkers, so they too could imagine the time, effort, and physical toll so many people must endure in their pursuit of water. On Walk day, he filled the jug with water and had everyone guess the weight. People gathered around and tugged and grunted as they tried to lift the heavy jug off the ground. There were a wide variety of guesses, but only one winner, who guessed 50.1 pounds (actual weight was 50.3 pounds). This year, the Fullerton CROP Hunger Walk raised more than $60,000, surpassing all prior efforts in its 26-year history.