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Why I'm walking for water this October!
A few years
ago I was privileged to live for 2.5 years in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. This was
an unforgettable experience, not least because of the local people I met there.
The contrast
between the “haves” and the “have nots” was shocking. My neighbor owned 7 cars,
including a 2-door Bentley, while my driver lived in a traditional ger (yurt)
on the outskirts of the city.
At the time,
the population of the city was around 1.3 million, in a city which for which
the infrastructure was designed for a population of less than half that number.
Even now, more than half of the population live in the ger districts in traditional
homes with no running water, and sanitation provided by long drop toilets dug
into permafrost. Water is bought and collected (usually by the children) from a
local water supply station.
These issues
have lead to higher than usual infection rates for several preventable diseases,
including Hepatitis C and infection with helicobacter pylori. This has
resulted in very high rates for stomach and liver cancers in the population.
Access to
clean water an sanitation should be a right of every child. I’m walking for those
children that deserve to have a life free of preventable water-borne diseases.
