Kweifio-Okai
August 19th, 1970 in Papua New Guinea (South Pacific) there was an eight-year-old African American girl named Abshi and this is her story. Abshi live was not an essay one, she had to make sacrifices for her family that no little girl should have to make. Her first eight years of life were great she did not have a care in her parents Sha and Isaiah loved her more than anything and tried to give her a childhood for as long as they could, but they knew at some point in time she would have to work instead of enjoying her childhood and they pray that day was far way. Their prayer last for these eight years till the day the dread could no longer but put aside. Abshi always knew from witnessing the other young girls in her village that she would
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have to drop out of school one day to help her mother with the housework like finding food, water, tidying up their hunt and sewing clothes and blankets for the family, she worked from dawn till dusk every day. However, she did not realize how soon that day would be coming. March 17th , 1970 Abshi had been left school prior to her parents request and began working alongside her mother.
Even though she knew this day was coming it did not make accepting it any easier especially when her six-year- old brother Elijah got to attend school, and have the childhood she longed for. However, with the recent water issue of not being able to find safe and clean water, due to this development Abshi and other village girls soon had a full time job trying to find safe and clean water access for their families. Kweifio-Okai, Carla. 60 percent of the population live without a safe water supply, has the poorest access to clean water in the world: The Guardian, adapted by Newsela staff 03/25/16. According to the Why is Safe Water Essential? (video) This task became extremely important after some of the villagers became sick and some even dies due to diseases found in unsafe and dirty water they had been drinking or using in some way. Even though, Abshi, her village or the other villages did not know exactly what was happening to their water access, they did know that was going to have to change or they were all going to die from dehydration or a disease from water. Unknown to any country outside of the United States (because the U.S was the one who performed the poll) a poll was performed on safe and clean water access in other countries. The poll results according to Kweifio-Okai, Carla. The five countries ranked lowest for were
Equatorial Guinea (Central Africa), Angola (Southern Africa), Chad (Central Africa), Mozambique (Southeastern Africa) and Papua New Guinea (South Pacific): The Guardian, adapted by Newsela staff 03/25/16. The poll also revealed (Kweifio-Okai, Carla.) that 650 million people live without an “improved” source of drinking water. "Improved" sources of water include protected wells, rainwater or water piped into households, while "unimproved" sources include rivers and ponds: The Guardian, adapted by Newsela staff 03/25/16. Seven-teen years later September 8th ,1987 Abshi is now a twenty-five-year old woman, she was gotten married to Daniel and was expecting her first child and Even after all these years it was still a daily struggle to find safe and clean water access. However, that all was about to change when Papua New Guinea was offered to have a water service truck bring them safe and clean water, but sadly due to the cost of the service no one in Papua New Guinea could afford it. ( Kweifio-Okai, Carla.) Reported that the average cost for 50 liters which is converted to 13.2 gallons of water from a delivery service is £1.84 ($2.61). That is half the daily salary of some workers there: The Guardian, adapted by Newsela staff 03/25/16. Since Papua New Guinea turned down the water truck service Abshi and the surrounding villages were losing hope of ever being able to have safe and clean water access, but suddenly an amazing miracle happened. People all around the world began helping different places all over the world helping the places gain safe and clean water access and thankfully that is exactly what was happening every day the water access was improving. According Kweifio-Okai, Carla. The efforts to make clean water more available have paid off, with 2.6 billion people gaining access since 1990.: The Guardian, adapted by Newsela staff 03/25/16. Even though, not a lot of progress has been made in Papua New Guinea. Abshi knew it is only a matter of time before they too would have safe and clean water access like many other countries were achieving after months or years of working and at this point knowing that was better than knowing that this water struggle would never go away. Finally, Abshi felt peace knowing that no woman or girl would ever have to work dawn till dusk trying to find water like she had to for something that should be a given instead of a privilege, but if anything that is what Abshi realized that it was a privilege to have water, food and to just be breathing and to her that was something she knew she would not have been taught if she had stayed in school.
have to drop out of school one day to help her mother with the housework like finding food, water, tidying up their hunt and sewing clothes and blankets for the family, she worked from dawn till dusk every day. However, she did not realize how soon that day would be coming. March 17th , 1970 Abshi had been left school prior to her parents request and began working alongside her mother.
Even though she knew this day was coming it did not make accepting it any easier especially when her six-year- old brother Elijah got to attend school, and have the childhood she longed for. However, with the recent water issue of not being able to find safe and clean water, due to this development Abshi and other village girls soon had a full time job trying to find safe and clean water access for their families. Kweifio-Okai, Carla. 60 percent of the population live without a safe water supply, has the poorest access to clean water in the world: The Guardian, adapted by Newsela staff 03/25/16. According to the Why is Safe Water Essential? (video) This task became extremely important after some of the villagers became sick and some even dies due to diseases found in unsafe and dirty water they had been drinking or using in some way. Even though, Abshi, her village or the other villages did not know exactly what was happening to their water access, they did know that was going to have to change or they were all going to die from dehydration or a disease from water. Unknown to any country outside of the United States (because the U.S was the one who performed the poll) a poll was performed on safe and clean water access in other countries. The poll results according to Kweifio-Okai, Carla. The five countries ranked lowest for were
Equatorial Guinea (Central Africa), Angola (Southern Africa), Chad (Central Africa), Mozambique (Southeastern Africa) and Papua New Guinea (South Pacific): The Guardian, adapted by Newsela staff 03/25/16. The poll also revealed (Kweifio-Okai, Carla.) that 650 million people live without an “improved” source of drinking water. "Improved" sources of water include protected wells, rainwater or water piped into households, while "unimproved" sources include rivers and ponds: The Guardian, adapted by Newsela staff 03/25/16. Seven-teen years later September 8th ,1987 Abshi is now a twenty-five-year old woman, she was gotten married to Daniel and was expecting her first child and Even after all these years it was still a daily struggle to find safe and clean water access. However, that all was about to change when Papua New Guinea was offered to have a water service truck bring them safe and clean water, but sadly due to the cost of the service no one in Papua New Guinea could afford it. ( Kweifio-Okai, Carla.) Reported that the average cost for 50 liters which is converted to 13.2 gallons of water from a delivery service is £1.84 ($2.61). That is half the daily salary of some workers there: The Guardian, adapted by Newsela staff 03/25/16. Since Papua New Guinea turned down the water truck service Abshi and the surrounding villages were losing hope of ever being able to have safe and clean water access, but suddenly an amazing miracle happened. People all around the world began helping different places all over the world helping the places gain safe and clean water access and thankfully that is exactly what was happening every day the water access was improving. According Kweifio-Okai, Carla. The efforts to make clean water more available have paid off, with 2.6 billion people gaining access since 1990.: The Guardian, adapted by Newsela staff 03/25/16. Even though, not a lot of progress has been made in Papua New Guinea. Abshi knew it is only a matter of time before they too would have safe and clean water access like many other countries were achieving after months or years of working and at this point knowing that was better than knowing that this water struggle would never go away. Finally, Abshi felt peace knowing that no woman or girl would ever have to work dawn till dusk trying to find water like she had to for something that should be a given instead of a privilege, but if anything that is what Abshi realized that it was a privilege to have water, food and to just be breathing and to her that was something she knew she would not have been taught if she had stayed in school.