Walking Here and There!: PCI's San Diego Walk for Water (#54)

March 20, 2011 - Quoting PCI Global, "The world water crisis is one of the most significant public health issues of our time. One-third of the Earth’s population lives in “water-stressed” countries and that number is expected to rise dramatically over the next two decades. Often water has to be carried long distances to the house which takes extraordinary time and effort, a burden borne mainly by women and children. PCI’s San Diego Walk for Water is inspired by the 3 - 6 mile journey women and children make every day to obtain water in order to ensure survival for their families. Participants in this 5K walk will be asked to carry water jugs in an effort to provide a symbolic and educational experience for the walker."

As I am just now getting around to posting this two weeks after the event, I can tell you that the participants did indeed carry the aforementioned water jugs for the entire 5K trek at Tecolote Shores on Mission Bay!

Appropriately enough, and not by coincidence, the event took place just a couple of days away from "World Water Day" whice fell on March 22 this year.

So here's the deal. We here in the good ol' USofA are spoiled.

Especially when it comes to water.

For my part, I admit it.

You see, this exceptional year of bountiful, and much needed rainfall here in California has been awesome!

Hiking around a variety of our local reservoirs over the recent months (Loveland, Miramar, Lake Jennings, Lake Hodges, Lake Ramona, etc,) Wilson and I have been pleased to note how full they all are.

Indeed, a few days ago Governor Brown declared an end to our three year drought.

Shamelessly, and I'm bearing my soul here, thoughts that came to my mind included, "Now I won't have to worry about which days I water my lawn" and "My water bill damn sure better go down!"

And all this while people in other parts of our world consider themselves fortunate just to get any water at all... even dirty water! Not to mention that they may have to walk for miles to get it.

Water is heavy!

I wish I could tell you that I carried the water for this event, or at least give you a good excuse why I didn't like, "It would be too difficult to carry the water AND hold Wilson AND take pictures at the same time." But that would be a lie. First of all, Wilson stayed home due to his dislike of sidewalks. Secondly, the truth is that just the "thought" of walking 5K with a bucket of water made my arms hurt.

But guess what? Hundreds of people did just that... and with smiles on their faces.

With that said, I'll just get out of your way and let you appreciate the pictures, the people in them, and the significance of the overall experience.

Another great walk!

Want to get involved next year? Want to know more about PCI and their global cause? You can visit their website at:

http://www.pciglobal.org

MAP