Is there enough freshwater in the world for others to live as Americans do? What is life like for kids in a water-scarce place like Mozambique? What role can faith play in how we view water and our responsibility toward conserving it? These are a few of the topics explored at a week-long Water Science day camp sponsored in August by House of Prayer in Newark.
Twenty-eight campers, ranging in age from 4 to 12 years, and nine teen assistants considered the importance of water to daily living, learned how water scarcity affects lives, and committed to conservation in gratitude to God for the gift of water.
“Water flows through the Bible from start to finish,” said Betsy LaVela, who developed and directed the program. “With over 700 mentions of ‘water or ‘waters’ and 50 mentions of ‘thirst’ in the NRSV Bible, water is a source of life, and a symbol of spiritual life for Christians. Since ancient times, humans have used water for cleansing and purification, as a means of transport, as boundaries, as pathways to freedom, and as a place to gather. Water often is key to making miracles possible.”
Adelia Dumangane, a House of Prayer member and former resident of Mozambique, showed the campers how she hauled water for her family from wells located approximately four miles away. House of Prayer’s Lucye Millerand assisted by translating the presentation from Portuguese. Ms. Dumangane explained that hollow trees were used to capture falling rain. Even as a young girl, she noted, children in her village needed to carry water on their heads so that families had water for cooking, cleaning and personal care. This was an eye opener considering that in the United States, one person can have a water footprint of 320 gallons daily compared to the daily use of one gallon per person in Mozambique.
By discovering how much water it takes to make one cotton tee shirt (700 gallons), one pair of blue jeans (1800 gallons), and a typical fast food lunch of burger, fries, and a soda (1375 gallons), campers learned that they can conserve fresh water by making changes in their lifestyles.
Campers learned that Newark’s water originates in the Highlands of northern New Jersey, a critical source of drinking water for 5.4 million residents in over 10 counties. Sean Gilson, Education Director of “The Highlands Coalition,” brought a model watershed and through hands-on participation helped everyone see how fertilizers, agricultural runoff, salting driveways, motor oil leakages, pet waste, litter, construction, mining, and paved surfaces come together to contaminate and pollute the watershed. A donation was made to “The Highlands Coalition” in support of their ongoing project at Newark’s Weequahic Park.
Sylvia Ajaghanna, Rosalia Clegg and the Rev. Joyce McGirr from House of Prayer also helped plan the program, said LaVela, a children and family pastor and GreenFaith Fellow who has designed six other ecology-themed camps for faith communities. Other key participants were Cara-Ann Harrington, Alisha Kennedy, Michelle Thomas, Louise Ballard, Brenda Lewis, Wayne Hargrave, Angela Lovett-Fields, Dawn Ferguson, and Joe LaVela. The entire team hailed from eight churches: House of Prayer, Newark; St. Paul’s, Chatham; New Vision Tabernacle CME (Christian Methodist Episcopal), Newark; Trinity Baptist, Hackensack; Metropolitan CME, Newark; Pentecostal Church Irvington; Elmwood Presbyterian, East Orange; and Clear View Baptist Church, Newark.
