Day 1 – Why I’m Running: The Global Water Crisis and What We Can Do About It

Hey everyone!

Welcome to the very first blog post of my Happiness Run for Clean Water and Gender Equality. Over the next three weeks, I’ll be running 6 kilometers every day, the same distance that thousands of women and girls in developing countries have to walk every day just to get water for their families. And most of the time, that water isn’t even clean.

Crazy, right?

Here in Canada, we can just turn on a tap and get clean water in seconds. But in places like Tanzania, unfortunately, it’s not that easy. People, especially women and girls, spend hours walking just to fetch water. This means they can’t go to school, they can’t work, and they’re more likely to get sick from waterborne illnesses like cholera or typhoid. It’s not just a health issue, it affects education, gender equality, and entire communities.

That’s why I started this run. My goal is to raise $3,000 to install a Nanofilter water centre in Tanzania. This isn’t just any water system, it provides safe, clean drinking water to an entire community, helps reduce single-use plastics, and even creates a job for a local woman who will run the centre and teach others about health and hygiene. So it’s not just about clean water, it’s about empowering women, improving public health, and helping the environment.

This project supports some major global goals set by the United Nations—like SDG #5 (Gender Equality), #6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), #3 (Good Health and Well-being), and #8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth). It’s kind of amazing that something as simple as clean water can make such a big difference in all these areas.

So far, I’ve done three 6km runs and I’m feeling really motivated to keep going. It hasn’t been easy, but knowing why I’m doing this makes it so worth it. Each run reminds me of the distance so many women and girls walk every day just to get water, and that pushes me to stay consistent and stick with my goal. This is just the beginning, and I’m excited to see how far we can go together 💪🏽💙

If you can donate, even a little, you’ll be helping bring clean water, better health, and hope to a community that really needs it.