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Water
for Life!: A Celebration of World Water Day
28 March 2005
Last Tuesday was World Water
Day! This year World Water Day coincided with the launch
of the International Decade for Action, ‘Water for Life’, 2005-2015.
The primary goal of which is to promote efforts, such as the Millennium
Development targets to reduce by half the proportion of people without
access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015.
Involving the Youth
A core element of the long-term
success of sustainable development is the advancement of youth and their
active involvement in the protection of the environment and the promotion
of economic and social development. As part of her commitment to
the youth in Swaziland, Yonge Nawe invited Form 1 students from high schools
across the Kingdom to participate in a poster competition on the theme
of Water for Life.
Poster Exhibition
The Yonge Nawe Water for Life
poster competition culminated in a half-day exhibition of all posters that
was held at the Greater Alpha Restaurant, Manzini. Pupils and teachers
from the following high schools attended the event: Bahai, Evelyn Baring,
Malunge, Nhletjeni, St. Theresa’s, Sifundzani, Siteki Nazarene and Siphofaneni.
At the exhibition students had the opportunity to individually present
their poster to the judges; and used this opportunity to describe their
motivation behind the poster. The main exhibition was followed by
quizzes themed on water issues.
The judges, from The Swaziland
Arts Association, Fundza and Youth Connection, had a tough job! The
wide-range of water issues depicted in the posters gave insight into the
impact of pollution, water scarcity and sanitation on the daily lives of
our youth. The issues raised in the posters included:
-
Water Scarcity. A
common theme was that every drop of water is useful, and that simple actions
can achieve a lot in solving problems of water scarcity.
-
Industrial Pollution.
The direct impact of corporate pollution of our rivers and groundwater
was shown by many students, with graphic depictions of effluent pumping
out of Matsapha factories and polluting fields of crops and water sources.
-
Individual Responsibility.
The posters recognised our own responsibility in keeping rivers clean and
free of pollution; for example students emphasized the impacts of dumping
waste or defecating near water sources, often with striking images of people
sick from water-borne diseases such as cholera, diarrhea and bilharzia.
-
Uses of Water. The
students recognised the huge impact of water on their daily lives, with
many beautifully drawn pictures of traditional Swazi scenes such as cooking
over the fire, children swimming in rivers and women carrying water.
The judges were particularly impressed with the student’s knowledge of
links in the cycle of water use.
Winners
Judges congratulated the students
on the original and forceful images they had used in their posters.
The event was sponsored by PC Soft, Webster’s, Macmillan, Inter Tour Travel
Services, AON Insurance and MTN, and the overall best schools won prizes
including a printer, book tokens and library books. The winning student
was Sonia Muir from Sifundzani and runners up came from St. Theresa’s (Thandeka
Shongwe), Sifundzani (Chantel Nansi) and Malunge (Cel’musa Motsa).
In all, it was an excellent
event, and the enthusiasm shown by the students is very encouraging.
The winning posters can be seen here,
and can also be viewed at the Yonge Nawe offices.
Watch this column for more
articles on environment and sustainable development in Swaziland.
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