Collegiate Times

Maria Kim, a junior political science major, wanted to emphasize the severity and magnitude of the epidemics going on in Africa, and the importance of dealing with the problem as soon as possible.

“We hear and read about problems like this that many people deal with outside our country,” Kim said. “We live such comfortable lives as students and faculty who attend Virginia Tech. Our concerns right now revolve mainly around getting good grades, conducting research, meeting deadlines and things of that nature. I hope that people will realize the gravity of the situation in which many people in Africa live and how blessed we are here as students at Virginia Tech. From the abundance of comfort and provisions we have, I hope that we would share that with others.”

Students behind the campaign admit that getting students to realize these problems in Africa isn’t easy.

“We give all these statistics but it’s still not really personal to our lives,” Choi said. “Participating in the campaign will hopefully show students what people in these communities have to live with every single day. They can’t choose, and we can, so hopefully the campaign will encourage students to choose to help those less fortunate than they are.”

The reality is that $1 would provide a person in Africa with clean water for an entire year. Justin Gross, a graduate student in accounting, wanted to emphasize the simplicity of helping to change the lives of these people.

“We don’t realize how simple it would be to help these people,” Gross said. “Building wells for clean water only costs a few thousand dollars, and they would provide entire communities with clean water for many years.”

Blood:Water Mission at Tech hopes to be able to raise enough money to build several wells in Uganda communities. After the 40 days have passed, supporters hope that the campaign efforts will stick with students and faculty for years to come.

“Forty days of only drinking water won’t just solve everything,” Gross said. “It’s simply allowing us to step out of our reality into theirs for a change and realize that it is up to us to continue to help the communities in Africa and change their lives for the better.”

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A version of this article appeared in the Feb 17 issue of the Collegiate Times.