State Youth Games (SYG) was held in Victoria over the long weekend in June. The camping atmosphere with action packed sporting activities and evening ministry programs, provided the perfect opportunity for embody to get our smoothie bikes out for the official launch of the 2018 Safe Water September (SWS) challenge!
We ran a stall at the games to help create awareness about the safe water challenge and to encourage youth to get involved! It was encouraging to see SWS challenge takers from previous years visit the stall and let us know they have organised more people in their youth groups to drink only water this September! Making smoothies on the bikes enabled us to share the message that while we live in a country where we have access to all sorts of beverages, people in rural Zimbabwe don’t. While it’s easy to consume what we want, will we sacrifice that for one month and take up the challenge to raise funds for our friends in Zimbabwe? This year, with your help, we aim to raise $150,000 to support Showers of Blessing in Zimbabwe to install new boreholes in rural communities. These boreholes help to reduce the kilometers walked to access safe water, reduce illness and disease, and create opportunity for children to attend school and families to grow vegetables for their livelihood.
April Holmes from embody said of the smoothie bike experience, "It was rewarding to see all the planning and strategic thinking we put into our presence at SYG really pay off this year. Our stall operated so smoothly (no pun intended) and this really opened up space for us to have meaningful conversations with young people." Likewise, Matt Hornby of GMP was encouraged to see young people interested. “Many of the kids I spoke to hadn’t heard about Safe Water September, but were genuinely moved into action having heard and understood it’s cause”.
Now it’s your turn! Will you sign up and take the challenge this year? Head over to www.safewaterseptember.org.au to find out more and get ready to drink lots of water!
Natalie Oakes,
embody