You will now listen to a talk by the Water Project Manager of a charity called Charity Water. First, you have some time to look at questions 11 to 17. Now listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 17.
As Charity Water's Water Project Manager, I travel to some of the most desperate places on earth in search of clean water and And while the landscape changes, there's always one thing that remains the same. The women are always walking. Whether I'm in the mountains of Haiti in rural Liberia or the jungles of the Central African Republic, the women are always carrying water.
To give you an idea of the work that Charity Water does, I'll tell you the story of one of these women. Driving down a bumpy road in the middle of northern Uganda, our truck suddenly swerves off the road and up over an embankment. We usually prefer to surprise communities by our arrival because it makes it easier to monitor how our water points are functioning without hundreds of people watching.
But once you visit a few communities in the neighbourhood, rumours of your presence spread like wildfire. We jump out of the truck and walk into a party. This is when I met Helen Apis.
She told me about the new freshwater well in her village. I am happy now, Helen beamed. I have time to eat, my children can go to school, and I can even work in my garden, take a shower, and then come back for more water if I want.
I am bathing so well. A few of the men chuckled to hear a woman talk about bathing, but all I noticed was Helen's glowing face, the fresh flowers in her hair, and the lovely green dress she wore for special occasions. Touching her forearm, I replied, Well, you look great.
Yes, she paused, placing both hands on my shoulders and smiling. She said, Now I am beautiful. That really hit me.
My job is to focus on sustainable development, health, hygiene and sanitation, to make sure Charity Waters' projects are working in 20 years. But nowhere on any of my surveys or evaluations was a place to write, Today, we made someone feel beautiful. Before you hear the rest of the talk, you will have some time to look at questions 18 to 20.
Now listen carefully and answer questions 18 to 20. Before she had clean water, Helen would wake up before dawn, take her only two five-gallon jerry cans, and walk almost a mile and a half to the nearest water point, which happened to be at a school. Because there simply wasn't enough water for the area's population, she'd wait in line with hundreds of other women who also valued clean water.
Helen's only other option was to skip the wait and collect contaminated water from a pond. Helen spent most of her day walking and waiting. She told me each day she'd say to herself, How should I use this water today? Should I water my garden so we can grow food? Should I wash my children's uniforms? Should I use it to cook a meal? Should we drink this water? With two children, one husband, and ten gallons, Helen had to make choices.
I saw the shame in her eyes when she described how she would return from her long trek to find her two young children waiting for her. They were often sent home from school because their uniforms were dirty. With the new well in her village, her life was transformed.
She now had choices, free time, options. Also, Helen had been chosen to be the Water Committee Treasurer, collecting nominal fees from 51 households to use for the maintenance of their well. Water committees are often the first time women are ever elected to leadership positions in villages.
Last month, Helen was standing in line waiting for water. This month, she's standing up for her community. And now, she is beautiful.
That is the end of Part 2. You now have 30 seconds to check your answers to Part 2.