Response #9-20 Liters: Safe Water One Jerry Can at a Time

The website, 20 Liters, brings to light the very serious problem of unsafe and scarce drinking water.  Their focus is on the country of Rwanda in Africa, which is still recovering from the devastation of ethnic cleansing that occurred over a decade ago.  Clean water is very hard to come by, if not impossible to find in some areas, which means that dirty water is killing them just as surely as genocide did in the 1990s. The website states that diarrhea and other water-related disease kills more young children than AIDS, malaria, and measles combined, most under age five.

The website explains that their name symbolizes the most common item used by people in developing countries for gathering water: a 20 liter jerry can.  Women and children spend many hours each day travelling to water sources and transporting their water, which is often polluted.  According to the World Health Organization, 20 liters a day from a source within one kilometer from a household is the minimum requirement per person per day for adequate drinking and personal hygiene.  If available water is below this level, a person’s physical wellbeing is challenged. People in Rwanda average just five liters a day compared to the U.S. at 575 liters per day, or roughly 29 jerry cans.

The website offers easy ways to donate money to their organization and gives information on other affiliated charitable organizations working towards the same efforts.  Funds go towards educating Rwandan communities and supplying them with water filtration systems utilizing sand filters which are economical, easy to use, and require no power. They also provide sisterns for collecting rainwater. 20 Liters gets their message across simply: If water is life, then polluted water means no life at all. We must help all people achieve this most basic of needs.

Plagarism- Working on Understanding

I have read the information on plagarism and understand much of it, but still have questions.  If I were to quote and cite what Maureen said in her announcement on plagarism, would it be:

Maureen Sullivan of University of Alaska Fairbanks (2010) states, “if you are one of the students who did this and you’re freaking out, don’t freak out”(Bb). 

I am reading through the information in Hacker, but am still trying to get a firm grasp on in-text citation.  I understand when it is appropriate to cite, just not how to cite properly.  Thanks for your help.

Research Proposal and Outline: Rwanden Water Crisis

I recently heard a speaker talking about the water crisis in third world countries. I was astonished by the number of people that were dying simply because their water simply wasn’t sufficient. There are solutions to this problem, but most people in America and other more wealthy countries are unaware of the problem to begin with.  The awareness of the problem and the solutions needs to be raised so that people can start making a difference in the lives of those who suffer from lack of sufficient water.

Although most people in America and other more wealthy countries are unaware of the water crisis in other nations like Rwanda, the word needs to be spread about the solutions because everyday people are dying from the lack of drinking water, the lack of water to clean themselves with, and from water-related diseases.

I. The lack of drinking water

A. Climate changes

1. It gets hotter than it used to

B. The hard work of retrieving water

1. Water sources are long distances away

C. Solution

1. Collect rainwater

II. Lack of water for sanitation

A. Compared to American water usage

1. One hundred times more than what is deemed as necessary

B. Effects of poor hygiene

1. Sicknesses

C. Solution

1. Provide people the ability to sustain themselves

III. Water-related diseases

A.  Types of illnesses

1.  Diarrhea

B. Disease impact

1. Mortality rate

C. Solution

1. Simple filtration systems

 

 

Plagiarism

I have read and understood the guidelines for plagiarism. From now on I will be responsible for the context of my essay.