Today, March 22, is World Water Day. While many of us may conceptually understand how important access to clean water is, as the saying goes, you don’t really miss your water until your well runs dry. While water crises happening around the world like in South Africa are getting some recent attention of the mainstream media, access to clean water for drinking and sanitation has been a debilitating and long-standing problem in developing countries. According to Water.org, 844M people worldwide lack access to safe water, and 2.3B are living without access to improved sanitation.
More statistics from Water.org
"1 in 9 people lack access to safe water; 1 in 3 people lack access to a toilet. More people have a mobile phone than a toilet. Women are disproportionately affected by the water crisis, as they are often responsible for collecting water. This takes time away from work, school and caring for family. Lack of water and sanitation lock women in a cycle of poverty.
Empowering women is critical to solving the water crisis. Involving women can make water projects 6 to 7 more times effective. When women have access to safe water, they can pursue skills outside of their traditional roles and experience greater autonomy and independence."
Top fashion model turned water activist Georgie Badiel founded her water-focused Georgie Badiel Foundation in 2015. Before launching her foundation, Badiel was Miss Africa in 2004, and then became a top fashion model working for luxury brands like Marc Jacobs and Oscar de La Renta. Georgie has graced the cover of fashion’s bible, Women’s Wear Daily, and is still a working model, having recently walked in Diane Von Furstenburg’s presentation during February's New York Fashion Week.
When asked what inspired her to launch her foundation Badiel, shares, “As young girl, I used to walk for 3 hours every day to fetch water. After traveling the world, I went to visit my sister who was almost nine months pregnant. She still needed to awaken between 2am and 4am to get water. This is what inspired me to start making a difference to the critical need for water and sanitation.”
Since its launch, the Georgie Badiel foundation has made water accessible to over 100,000 people in Badiel’s home country of Burkina Faso by building 5 wells enabling local communities to have access to clean water. The foundation has also trained and educated 50 women to restore, maintain and service their villages’ wells, planted 1,050 trees in the Tanguin Dassouri, to provide future generations with shade, fruit and halt desertification, and educated over 600 students on basic hygiene practices to promote good health.
Badiel has gotten the attention and support of major donors like the Segal Family Foundation and Brussels Airlines. Earlier this month Badiel was awarded the Chevalier of Merit title by President Kabore of Burkina Faso and Eric Tiare, Burkina Faso's Ambassador to the United Nations. The title was granted to Badiel in recognition of her efforts to bring clean water and education to the people of Burkina Faso. A ‘chevalier’ is the female version of a knight and is one of the highest civilian awards in Burkina Faso.
When Badiel, a long time friend of mine, and I meet in person, she casually says things like, ‘Oh I had dinner with the first lady of Burkina Faso last night- you should have come!’. Adding to her social capital, Badiel is engaged to fellow social entrepreneur Chid Liberty of the Liberian garment factory Liberty & Justice and ethical clothing label UNIFORM. UNIFORM recently partnered with musician ASAP Ferg to launch the Trap Lord clothing label made in Liberty’s factory with the sponsorship support of Jay-Z founded streaming service Tidal.
In 2016, Badiel co-authored and provided the inspiration for the children’s book The Water Princes, written by Susan Verde and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds. Based on Badiel's childhood, the book is about a young girl who dreams of bringing clean drinking water to her African village. The water princess was printed in English, Korean and Chinese, with Spanish and French editions coming next. According Badiel a cartoon is also in the works. The book educates children globally about the water crisis and learning what their brother’s and sisters are battling in other parts of the world. The book was Amazon’s ‘Best Book’ of September 2016. According to Badiel,” The Water Princess created a great impact on the Georgie Badiel Foundation and is read in a lot of schools.”
What’s next for Badiel? With the launch of Georgie Water, Badiel hopes to take on juggernauts like Poland Springs, Fiji and Evian, and break into the bottled water market which is projected to reach $280B in sales by 2020. Similar to Tom's shoes, Georgie water will offer a one-for-one sales model, where for each bottle of water sold, the equivalent is made available to those in need in Burkina Faso. “Right now my biggest dream is to provide access to clean water to every person in my country Burkina Faso. I created this social project Georgie Water that will give back to the cause.”
As for the one disadvantage when pioneering her career thus far Georgie says, “Being an African woman. I have to work harder and harder. Sometimes it’s exhausting and frustrating. But I believe the work I am doing is for God, he will take care of everything.”
Learn more about the water crisis and what you can do to help at water.org. Learn more about the Georgie Badiel Foundation at georgiebadielfoundation.org. Special thanks for photography to my assistant Kimberly Guzman.
Autumn Adeigbo is an ethical fashion advocate and entrepreneur. She is founder and creative director of her eponymous women's wear label autumnadeigbo.com.
