Join us in Toronto on Monday, April 22nd, 2024 by walking 3.7-miles (approximately 6km) in solidarity.

Register for Aveda Canada’s Walk for Water by clicking here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfH_J_bPYoJZWICQJVcPXgOQiaXduhypNhHaffrHPWApjm_6Q/viewform

Throughout Earth Month, Aveda Canada’s networks – salons, spas, and storefronts, along with Aveda Canada guests and supporters – will come together to host fundraising events across the country, including Aveda Canada’s Walk for Water, in support of WaterAid Canada.

WaterAid Canada is a member of WaterAid, an international not-for-profit working toward a world where everyone everywhere has access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene.

Currently, 703 million people in the world – almost one in ten – don’t have clean water close to home. But together, we can change this. Since 2006, Aveda Canada’s partnership with WaterAid Canada has raised more than $5 million, reaching over 180,000 people with access to clean water.*

Thank you for outstanding commitment to WaterAid Canada, and for once again demonstrating Aveda Canada’s passion for clean water access.

WaterAid works across 25 countries, to develop sustainable solutions to help people access sustainable and clean water, sanitation, and hygiene. We work directly with communities and local governments to ensure the most appropriate solutions are used that ensure equitable access to clean water across a community.

In the commune of Manjakandriana in the central highlands of Madagascar, the hilly terrain means that the groundwater sources used by the small villages in the area are continuously contaminated during the rainy season from uphill runoff containing human and animal waste. Sustainable solutions require large-scale construction work and can be extremely costly. This makes it difficult for villages to implement solutions without support.

For Juliette (pictured above) who lived in Manjakandriana, this meant she spent her whole life without access to clean water.

Sadly, Juliette passed away shortly after we met her, but her memory lives on in her 11 grandchildren. When we met Juliette, she was surrounded by her grandchildren – running around her, giggling, and competing for a place on her lap. When she spoke, they listened to her words carefully, because her words helped keep them healthy.

When we spoke with Juliette, she shared that without access to clean water in her village, people were forced to collect water from one of two contaminated groundwater sources on either side of the village at the bottom of slopes. When it rains, water washes down the slopes into the sources, taking animal and human waste with it. People from the village know the water is contaminated, but they have no choice but to use it.

Children are often tasked with collecting water for their families, like Johary (pictured above), one of Juliette’s grandsons. What is incomprehensible for some, is part of his everyday routine:

As Johary fills containers with water, it’s difficult to think of him pouring this into a cup and drinking it. Even the thought of him washing his hands and face is worrying.

Imagine how worried you’d be if you had to drink water that you knew was dirty or contaminated. Can you see yourself handing it to a small child? This is the unfortunate reality for Johary, his cousins (four pictured below, L-R: Frankie, Jessica, Nandrianina, and Feno), and many people across Madagascar. But with your support, this can change.

In Madagascar, 1,800 children under five die every year from preventable diarrhea caused by dirty water, poor toilets, and no handwashing facilities. Almost half the country’s population doesn’t have clean water close to home, and 9 out of 10 people don’t have a decent toilet of their own.

The impact this can have on a community is deep. Being denied access to clean water means people are denied an equal chance to be healthy, educated, and financially secure. Without access to water and decent toilets, girls drop out of school and women often can’t work because of the time they spend collecting water. Hardworking adults lose millions of workdays and children are losing lives each day due to persistent diarrheal disease. This locks in inequality and stops change happening.

Sadly, Juliette passed away since we met her. But, this Earth Month, we want your help in making Juliette’s dream come true – of a country and community where her grandchildren (seven of whom are pictured above) and many others like them can grow up without the hardships she faced because of the lack of clean water.

WaterAid uses sustainable solutions for communities that build on our experience of developing and implementing gravitational drinking water supplies in rural areas.

We don’t do this work on our own; we work closely with local governments and communities to ensure the solutions are appropriate and sustainable for each individual village.

The other key partner we’re counting on is you.

Since 2006, Aveda Canada has demonstrated an incredible commitment to WaterAid Canada.* This Earth Month, we’re counting on your partnership and generosity to support communities like Juliette’s gain access to clean water.

Photo credit (all): WaterAid/ Ernest Randriarimalala

*Partnership through Collega International