LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Eight students from Iroquois High school are sharing their stories from the places where they grew up where water wasn't readily available.
These students would have to walk with family members sometimes in dangerous situations to go get clean water.
In a practice run, they are telling their stories preparing for Ted Talks and a book they plan to release in the coming months.
The Louisville-based non-profit WaterStep has been helping the students get their voices heard.
A partnership was born between the high school and the non-profit sparking an even bigger discussion of this global issue, in Iroquois High School, where the population of students, is predominantly made up of refugee families who've experienced this very problem.
"In here, we get up in the morning and just go and open the tap and get water and brush our teeth right, but in my country, you can’t do that..." Najwa Arbab said.
Thinking back, to her life, only three and a half years ago in Sudan, Najwa Arbab knows, how much easier her life is in America.
"I'd carry the container in my hand, like 5 gallons of water, I also carried my little sister on my back...Sometimes we don't have good clean water, and it's hard to get water and when we'd carry water from the water step we had to come back home and boil first so we could drink it..." Arbab expressed.
It's a global issue that’s hitting home in the hallways of Iroquois High School. The discussion started when ESL teacher Bridgette Kearny invited the non-profit Water Step to speak to her class...
"I was talking to them about our transportation unit called the water ball... it's basically a plastic ball where it holds water and rolls, so it makes water transportation easier...We quickly learned it's not just these 8 students here in their countries and in refugee camps have experienced very dangerous conditions walking to get water danger by the tap, women walking alone, especially women not being able to go to schools because their entire life is water...As I was speaking to them about that they pointed at it and said, man, that would be so neat and useful to use in our countries..." Kearny said.
The eight distinguished students are using their voices to help write a book.
Their goal is to bring the problems of their motherlands to the forefront in their new and current homes...
"I want the world to know about this, that there is a lot of people who know about water and how long it takes us to carry it back home..." Arbab states.
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