Sickles Students "Walk For Water" To Aid Kenya

As Thursday's temperatures reached close to 100 degrees,  hundreds of students at spent a period of their class time walking around the track to  show their support for people who live half a world away.

"We're getting around 150 students showing up to walk every hour, and it's a great way for the students to get a better understanding of what it must be like for people who live in Kenya and have to  do this every day just to get water," said Paige Cruz, vice-president of the O Ambassador's club which sponsored the event.

The O Ambassador's Club is made up of 35 students and sponsored by faculty member, Ms. Brooks.

O Ambassadors is a project that was jointly created by Oprah Winfrey's Angel Network and Free The Children in 2008. The club is designed to assist the regions of West Africa, East Africa, South Asia and Latin America.

This marked the third year the students have organized the walkathon.

"The average Kenyan walks anywhere between 30 minutes to 3 hours a day, for water," said Brooks, who also pointed out that the number one cause of death among children in Kenya is waterborn diseases.

Students created posters, which were placed throughout the school to create an awareness for what is happening in Kenya. 

One poster read, "When you buy yourself a treat, you and a Kenyan child can eat."  Another had a picture of a Kenyan child and the caption read "Your spare change can change his world."

Empty water bottles with slits were turned into banks and placed in classrooms so that students could fill them up with coins. 

"We raised $770 our first year, last year we raised $1,000," Ms. Brooks said.