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Maties Walk for Water and Sanitation
March 19, 2014 @ 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Staff and students of Stellenbosch University (SU) will join thousands of people around the world to walk for water and sanitation, highlighting the responsible use of water at the annual World Walk for Water and Sanitation, organised by the SU Water Institute.
This year, and every year until there is universal access to water, people from around the world come together on World Water Day on 22 March to demand action from leaders of government to address the water and sanitation crisis.
In 2013, the event involved more than 400 000 people in more than 65 countries. It is now regarded as the largest water and sanitation mobilisation event in the world.
Globally, 800 million people still don’t have access to safe water, while 40% of the world doesn’t have access to a toilet. In South Africa 5 million people lack access to safe drinking water.
The Maties walk will take place on Wednesday 19 March 2014 between 12:50 and 14:00, starting on the Rooiplein on SU’s Stellenbosch Campus. Participants will each receive a free water bottle and snack courtesy of the Stellenbosch University Water Institute and the NEPAD Water Centres of Excellence.
A multi-disciplinary research enterprise
The Stellenbosch University Water Institute is a multi-disciplinary research enterprise that was set up in 2010 in response to the formidable and unprecedented challenges relating to water facing South Africa. The Institute functions across various faculties of Stellenbosch University, such as Science, Engineering and AgriSciences. It draws from the fundamental and goal-directed research undertaken by experienced scientists.
Research is done in collaboration with government and industry to solve water related challenges, to provide technology transfer and to develop human resources.
A global mobilisation event
The World Walks for Water and Sanitation is a global mobilisation event demanding action across the world to address the water and sanitation crisis
This year, between 15 and 23 March, 2014, hundreds of thousands of people across the world will walk together to demand change from their governments: they will demand universal access to water and sanitation; they will demand that their human right to water and sanitation is fulfilled; they will walk in solidarity with the millions still forced to walk for water and defecate in the open.
