Reporter
Waterborne diseases kill more children every year than AIDS, Malaria, and violence around the world combined.
“Water is a human right,” said Roel Romualdo, president of the Thirst Project Club at CSU Bakersfield, as he began his welcome speech to the group of 15 eager CSUB students at the club’s first meeting on Sept. 25, 2018.
Romualdo, a senior majoring in economics and French, was introduced to the Thirst Project some time ago and immediately became interested in its mission. He made it his personal mission to bring the Thirst Project to CSUB and make it an official campus club.
The Thirst Project is a youth water activism organization. Founded by a Southern Californian college student in 2008, the Thirst Project is ran and made possible by volunteer and intern college students across the United States.
It’s website stated its mission is to “build a socially-conscious generation of young people who end the global water crisis.”
In Swaziland, one of the African countries that the Thirst Project focuses on building water wells for, women and children walk an average of 3.75 miles a day over rough terrain and landscapes to get drinking water, while carrying a jerry can that can weigh up to 44 pounds. They don’t have time to get an education, work, or stay at home to help take care of their families.
“It is really exciting to see people our age, in our generation take action. As college students, we can all come together collectively where everyone can use their unique and special skills to spread this movement and make the world a better place while improving ourselves too,” Romualdo said.
Seth Maxwell, founder and CEO of the Thirst Project, thought to himself, “What can one person really do?” which sparked the idea to create something that mattered.
By bringing the Thirst Project Club to CSUB’s campus, Romualdo hopes that CSUB and students can make a lasting impact on the world through this organization and show what a difference one person can really do.
For the members of the Thirst Project Club, this is more than providing clean drinking water. The movement is about making villages in third-world countries which experience water crisis self-sustainable, healthier, safer and put an end to gender disparities by empowering women in those third world countries.
Spencer Shaffer, senior engineering major at CSUB has joined the Thirst Project Club.
“I like that this club is such an honorable cause that anybody can be a part of and change a big issue in the world,” Shaffer said.
The Thirst Project Club is growing and planning what it wants to accomplish in CSUB and in the Bakersfield community. Its hope is that CSUB students can see in themselves that they can make a difference in the world and get involved in an organization that saves and changes lives.
“Our short-term goal is to spread awareness and get as many people involved in the club as possible, so we can put ourselves on the map at CSUB. Our long-term goal is to personally raise enough money through our club so that we can build a well in Swaziland along side the Thirst Project,” Vice President Christian Miranda, senior physics major said.
Miranda’s message to his fellow CSUB students was, “Everything you do matters, even if you feel like it doesn’t. You can make a difference, doesn’t matter who you are. We are a group of people of all shades, colors and backgrounds working together to make a difference in the world.”
“The Thirst Project is the most down to earth organization I have ever worked with, and I am excited to bring that positive energy to CSUB,” Romualdo said.
To find more information on CSUB’s Thirst Project, it is available on Instagram at @csubthirstproject.
