Sunday, March 22, 2009

Walk for Water

My 2nd consecutive day of getting out of my comfortable armchair. This one was for a 5K walk organized by PCI to raise awareness of water issues and support projects in Africa. About a 1000 people braved the rain and turned up for the walk and I was one of them.

Just a decade ago living in another corner of the world i've walked a bit for water so i am someone who was taught to appreciate how priceless water is. So I had to raise a couple of points with PCI on how they organized the event.

I was uncomfortable with the fact that the event was sponsored by Nika water, a bottled water company with a twist - 100% of their profits support developmental projects in Africa and they are carbon neutral certified. This was the rationale provided by PCI when my friend and i raised this issue with them. But our objection was not just to the plastic, i have a problem with issue of privatizing water and bottled water is the most visible facet of this privatization. To PCI's credit, they acknowledged that they didnt think about this aspect and that they will discuss this.

Overall a good day! Enjoyed the walk, the company, the weather, the view and to top it all came back home in time for a delicious lunch with the family and if my walk indeed reduces the water burden on a little girl... hey can't complain!

That's a wrap!

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