Kim Raver promotes clean water

Kim Raver via Caroline Kotter for CGG

Lipstick Jungle’s leading lady Kim Raver hosted an event at the French Embassy in New York yesterday for the “Drink 1 Give 10” campaign. Thus far, the Volvic/UNICEF collaboration has given 100 million liters of water to Ethiopia, a country where lack of clean water is one of the foremost reasons for death. For every liter of Volvic water sold in the U.S and Canada (between April 1st and August 31st in 2008 and 2009), Volvic will donate four cents to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF to provide at least 10 liters of water to Ethiopia. The gathering commemorated the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and celebrated Kim Raver’s hard work in collaboration with the campaign.

“I thought, this is such a major problem, but a solvable problem,” says Kim Raver, who is also spokeswoman for the campaign. Kim expressed to CGG how exasperated she was when she realized that in the Benishangul-Gumuz region of Western Ethiopia, more than half of the population does not have access to clean water and sanitation facilities.

While we love the idea of promoting clean water in Africa, we are a little hesitant about a campaign to encourage people to buy bottled water. This seems to be problematic: solving one problem while ignoring another. “If people aren’t going to stop buying bottled water,” Kim responds, “at least they will buy this stuff.” It is true that as far as bottled water goes, Volvic does seem to be one of the least harmful. They have been using a recyclable material called PETE (polyethylene terephthalate) to construct their bottles, and this campaign, while only a very small step in bringing clean water to Africa, is still a step. “They are not just building the wells and leaving, they are building the wells and teaching them how to maintain them…In the end, I just think it’s worth it,” says Kim.

Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and corresponding photographs from around the world were projected at the event, reminding us just how far we have to go. Kim definitely thinks young people have the potential right now to take these initiatives further. “I am incredibly impressed with the youth today…with the election it has really changed. You see this surge in a generation wanting to make a difference. I find that inspiring.”

As we are also on the eve of the 20th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of a Child, Kim’s words inspire hope that our generation with the help of new leadership will be able to focus on these issues in new ways. Seeing as the United States is one of only two countries (the other being Somalia) that has not yet ratified the CRC, and those who have are clearly not implementing it, it is up to our generation to make the progress.

And to find out a ton of ways how you can act now towards that progress, check out these human rights tips!

By CGG Contributing Reporter Caroline Kotter