Raise $1000 for wells in Malawi
Joshua Zyderveld
Public relations editorial intern
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia
Members of Avondale College student club COSMOS hiked 25 kilometres in one day to raise money for two wells in Suzi, Malawi. The project will save women from the village having to walk more than three hours a day to collect water. Credit: Tim Lawrence.
Members of an Avondale College student club have risked sore feet and sunburn on a 25-kilometre hike that raised $1000 for clean water in Malawi.
Twelve staff members and students began the hike at Swansea Beach in the Hunter in the morning of November 7 and ended at Birdie Beach on the Central Coast that evening.
COSMOS organised Walk 4 Water to raise money for the building by the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) of two wells in the village of Suzi in Malawi. With a population of almost 1000 and the only source of water a contaminated river more than one kilometre away, the village needs clean, accessible water.
ADRA Malawi intern Krystle Praestiin, who completed the international development studies course at Avondale this past year, says the wells will not only provide water but will also reduce disease prevalence and enable many women to receive an education—they will save more than three hours a day by not having to collect water. The project includes training for the villagers to help them maintain the wells and to teach them about hygiene and sanitation.
COSMOS has raised $5000 this year for the Malawi Well Project. “Our activities were in a kind of holding pattern last year after the tragic death of Charles Pointon [the COSMOS pioneer, aged 98, died in 2008 after a car hit him while he crossed Freemans Drive], but this year we’ve continued to rebuild,” says staff adviser Brad Watson.
Brad and the COSMOS team have repositioned the club this year—it now focuses on advocacy, development and sustainability. The first of these is the key says Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Teaching student Wade Coster, who helped organise the hike. “If the advocacy is effective, then you have more than 1000 people on campus talking about and discussing the important issues.”
Wade speaks of the role COSMOS plays as part of the Avondale experience. “COSMOS has been here for a long time [since the late 1970s], and it should be here for a long time. It’s a way for students, who don’t have much money, to do their bit to help the world.”
Joshua Zyderveld is president of COSMOS.