Personal tools
You are here: Home Smorgasbord Archive 2006 November 14 Crossing the Sahara to Bring Attention to Africa’s Water Needs

Food & Water Watch

Crossing the Sahara to Bring Attention to Africa’s Water Needs

Filed Under:

Another superstar is taking initiative to bring attention to the world water crisis. Matt Damon is lending his voice to a film that documents the stunning trek of three men across the Sahara desert.

joggersCharlie Engle (USA), Ray Zahab (Canada) and Kevin Lin (Taiwan) will run 4,000 miles –– the equivalent of 2 marathons a day –– from Senegal to Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, ending at the Suez canal on the Red Sea. That’s longer than the distance from Los Angeles, CA to Portland, ME!

It’s never been done before, and it will be captured on film, narrated by none other than Mr. Damon.

According to the website, the runners hope to “bring a new vision of the Sahara and its people to the world — a more accurate vision intended to increase interest and understanding of our fellow humans, an unknowable land, and what each of us is willing to do to make a difference.” They also hope to bring attention to H2o Africa, Matt Damon’s new charity, which aims to “create widespread public awareness of the water crisis in Africa and gather support for clean water programs in critical areas. Clean water lies at the crux of many challenges facing African people –– from health, to education, to human rights.”

I’d guess they’ll get pretty thirsty along the way.

Success

Posted by Eldon Hinds at December 3, 2007, 10:39 AM
I hope the project is a great success. With only 56 percent of sub-sahara Africa having access to water the initiative is a great one. I would love more information and a chance to help in any way possible. I'm interested in the water shortage problem in Africa.

Sincerely,

Concerned

Welcome

to the news bites and blogful commentary from Food & Water Watch.

If you'd like to send us a note about a blog entry or anything else, please use this contact form. To get involved, fill out a volunteer form or follow the take action link above.

Like what we have to say? Be one of the first to know each time a new blog entry and podcast goes live by subscribing to the RSS feed icon Smorgasbord and RSS feed icon SnackCast: Audio Food for Thought.

Topics
Archives
 

Powered by Plone CMS, the Open Source Content Management System

This site conforms to the following standards: