Latest News Updates from Around the World
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Latest News Updates From Around the World Check out the most recent blog entries from P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program (CSDW) and share your thoughts. Or, browse our archive content for a look back at the global efforts as told by Dr. Greg Allgood, Founder of the CSDW Program. Hiking Mt Kilimanjaro to Help Raise Awareness of the Global Clean Drinking Water Crisis January 3, 2013 I can't believe I'm doing it again! I'll take part in the 2nd Summit on the Summit Kilimanjaro effort organized by Grammy-nominated singer and philanthropist Kenna. I'm in Tanzania now and physically, emotionally, and spiritually ready for the grueling 7 day ascent of Africa's tallest peak at 19,341 feet above sea level. Last time, it took everything I had to make it to the summit. Three years later means I'm now 53 years old, and so I know this is going to be a challenge of a lifetime. The last climb in 2010 was a huge success by generating 2 billion media impressions and becoming the top cause on Facebook and the top trending topic on Twitter during the climb. I attended as one of the water experts along with celebrities and influencers including Jessica Biel, Emile Hirsh, Isabel Lucas, and Alexandra Cousteau. Amazingly since the average summit success is only 60%, we all made it to the top. It was the biggest physical challenge of our lives for most of us. To kick-off this year's effort, Emile Hirsch just wrote about the challenge and his harrowing experience of 2010 SOTSK in the Hollywood Reporter (LINK). Prior to the climb, I hosted the climbers in a village visit near Arusha, Tanzania. This is an area where FHI360 is providing the P&G water purification packets (formerly called PUR Purifier of Water) in Maasai villages. The work in the villages has now continued for more than 3 years and tomorrow I'll host this year's Summit on the Summit Kilimanjaro (SOTSK) climbers on a village visit. Many of them have never traveled to Africa so I'm eager to provide them with the experience of seeing the challenges of the water crisis first-hand as well as the opportunity provided by the simple solution of the P&G water packets to prevent waterborne illness. The UNC Chapter of Students of the World visited this same Maasai village about a year into the effort to document the lasting impact of the SOTSK effort. By watching their 90 second video you can better understand the goals of SOTSK as well as virtually visit the Maasai village and see the impact of the P&G Children's Safe Drinking Water Program (LINK) This year's SOTSK will include cultural influencers Justin Chatwin, Mark Foster, Beau Garrett, Chase Jarvis, Lauren Sanchez, and Bryn Mooser. We'll have a seven-day, fifty-mile climb up Kilimanjaro designed to draw attention to the impact of water- borne illness, educate the public about the solutions available including the P&G packets, and generate a call to action to help address the problem. In addition to myself and Kenna, the other repeat climber from the 2010 SOTSK climb is Melissa Arnot, the only woman to summit Mt. Everest four times. Melissa told me that Mt Kilimanjaro is a serious mountain and we're going to have a real adventure. As one of the most experienced mountain guides in the world, she should know! I'm glad for my months of training for SOTSK by climbing literally thousands of flights of stairs with a weighted backpack. In addition to our team of climbers, Kenna has enlisted many of his celebrity friends who will take part by using social media. Headlining the celebrities who will lead this effort are actresses Olivia Wilde from the television show "House" and Dianna Agron from the television show "Glee". For Twitter, we'll use the tag of @SOTSK as well as our own @PG_CSDW. You can follow the thrill of the hike through this blog, through the P&G CSDW Facebook page, and by visiting the SOTSK website, www.summitonthesummit.com. On the SOTSK website, users will be encouraged to join the online "Summit Seeker” community, a first-of-its-kind, interactive social gaming platform. "Summit Seeker” allows supporters to follow the climbers on our ascent of Kilimanjaro, viewing our tweets, pictures, and updates from the mountain in real time. And, users are rewarded for their participation in everything from signing a personal water conservation pledge to following along in their own virtual climb, with prizes including some great gifts donated by some of the SOTSK sponsors including P&G brands of Gillette and SKII , and HP, Intel, Eddie Bauer and KLM. As Kenna says "The gaming and social media platforms are our connection to supporters as we scale the mountain and what will sustain the life of the initiative long after the climb is complete." I'm glad to acknowledge and thank P&G for their support of this effort. The P&G Children's Safe Drinking Water Program is a premier collaborator in SOTSK providing our water expertise as well as the work in the Maasai village. We'll also provide P&G water purification packets to make our drinking water safe during our climb. Three other water organizations are lending their expertise by taking part in the climb including Water.org's Chevenee Reavis, Wello Water’s Cynthia Koenig, and H20 For Life’s Steve Hall. I'd also like to thank HP and Intel for keeping us connected during the climb, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines for donating our flights from the US, and Eddie Bauer's First Ascent for providing us with the mountaineering gear for the climb as well as Melissa Arnot. Tomorrow, I'll host the climbers on the visit to the Mswakini village. I'm excited to see the progress made by FHI360 and their local implemention partner Selian Hospital..