Living without a phone to help children who live without clean water

Many teenagers would consider their cell phone something they could not live without. Yet there are 783 million people in the world living without something much more vital than a cell phone: clean water.

During the month of March, the CVHS UNICEF club joined the UNICEF Tap Project and put down their smart phones to donate water to children who need it.

“The fact that people don’t have access to safe, clean water isn’t just inconvenient, it’s lethal,” said club president Mariam Noorulhuda.

To participate in the project, club members went on the UNICEF Tap Project website and put their phones down, while the web site counted how long they went before picking their phone back up again. For every 15 minutes without using their phones, a day of water would be donated to children in need.
So far, the entire club has gone a total of 258 hours without using their phone, which equals to 1,032 days of clean water to children in third world countries.
Sophomore Yongen Chen holds the club record for the most total time she spent without her phone, 127 hours.
“Many people in the world don’t have access to clean water, so I was glad that I was given the opportunity to give back,” she said.
Chen also found it was pretty easy to go without her phone when she is contributing to help third world country children. Club member Lotan Yeung, who has the second best time of 95 hours, also realized that fundraising for a powerful cause didn’t have to be difficult.
“It’s great to be able to donate water so easily to third world countries!” Yeung said.
Not just UNICEF club members can participate in the Tap Project. Anyone can take the challenge by going to tap.unicefusa.org on their phones and see how many days of clean water they can contribute for children around the world.
“Our club has unlocked 1,032 days of clean water and I am so proud that we have saved countless lives,” said Noorulhuda.
Though many people find that their life revolves around their smart phone, putting it down for just 15 minutes can give a kid who is in need of vital essentials another day to live.