Imagine walking miles every morning just to collect water before heading to school.
This was the reality that South African author Iris Canham shared with K-4 students at Ladner Elementary last week as she read from her inspiring book, Thokozile Had A Dream.
In many parts of the world, where water is not readily accessible, the responsibility of collecting it often falls on women.
Globally, 750 million women haul water daily for their households’ water needs. Girls start carrying water at a young age, learning to balance five-gallon buckets weighing 40 pounds on their heads.
Canham’s book tells the story of Thokozile, a young girl who dreams of a better way to transport water using a ‘hippo water roller’, a large plastic drum that holds five times more water than a standard bucket and can be pushed home easily.
Thanks to Luke Vorstermans and his partner, Linda Ryan, founders of the Roll a Hippo Foundation, more than 3,500 hippo rollers have been distributed to families in South Africa, saving them enormous time and effort with daily water collection. What began with funding for just 50 rollers from the Rotary Club of Gibsons has blossomed into a collaboration involving more than 125 Rotary clubs across Canada, the U.S., and South Africa, delivering hippo rollers to marginalized women.
“Collectively, women spend 250 million hours fetching water every day. This is not only exhausting but also time-consuming, impacting their ability to pursue education and job opportunities,” Vorstermans said. “A hippo water roller can save a woman 25-plus hours of work every week, so just imagine what she could do with that time.”
Canham wrote her storybook after joining the Roll A Hippo Foundation and seeing the positive impact of their work.
An advocate for gender equality in South Africa, she was recently invited to speak at the Pathways to Gender Equality conference in Ottawa. Knowing she would be in B.C. afterwards, she reached out to Steph Matheson, principal of Ladner Elementary, to ask if she could share her message of dreams, hope, and empowerment with the students.
During her visit, she gifted a copy of her book to a randomly selected student and donated additional copies to the school library. She concluded her presentation by inspiring the children with the message that dreams can indeed come true, just as hers did when she travelled to Canada.
Canham’s dream is that no one should have to carry water the old hard way.
The innovative design of the hippo roller has the potential to transform the lives of millions, allowing women and children to redirect the time saved from water collection toward personal, social, educational, and economic opportunities.
To learn more about the Roll A Hippo Foundation or to support this vital project, please visit: https://www.rollahippo.org/.
