Mennonite
Central
Committee

MCC Water Table
or MCC "Toonie" Water Table

Including Water Facts

 

This activity is primarily an educational tool although it is also a way for participants to support MCC water projects. It was first designed for MCC Information Tent at the Ontario Mennonite Relief Sale in New Hamburg as a way of highlighting MCC water projects. It has also been used with junior high students and in the display area at the MCC Ontario AGM.

 

Goal

In North America, we often take our water for granted. This activity encourages participants to become engaged in making connections between their own personal use of water and the water needs of their global neighbours.

 

What is the Water Table?

People are invited to make a donation of $2 (In Canada, ask people to donate a "toonie" or 2 "loonies" for MCC's Toonie Water Table.) In return participants are given a film canister containing 20 dimes. Participants begin making their way around the table, responding to the directions on the water cards. The goal is not to make your dimes "stretch" around the whole table, but to gain an understanding of how they were used. What took most of their dimes? Why did they not have any dimes left at the end? If the cards are set up in such a way that the requests to support specific MCC water projects come towards the end, it can be a good discussion point during the debriefing time. "Why did you not have anything left to give to MCC projects?"

 

Supplies and Advance Preparation

1. Two 6 foot tables set up so participants can walk around them.
2. 20 empty water bottles with mouths large enough to accept dimes. We stuck the "Me and MCC" water stickers on each one and added a colourful curly drinking straw. Those details, along with light blue table cloths added a lot to the overall appearance.
3. 20 laminated information/response cards to lay in front of the water bottles. I used MCC picture HON 03-13-22 as a colour watermark for each card and then had them laminated.
4. A 1-gallon/4 litre clear jar or other container for the "Toonie/Loonie/Dollar" donations.
5. Empty film canisters. (I was able to get used ones free from camera shops)
6. Obtain a cash advance. The amount will depend on how many people you expect to participate. We also re-counted dimes during the day. Place 20 dimes in each film canister. It's a good job while watching the evening news.
7. The MCC Water display (If you happen to have 2, they can be placed back to back in the middle of the table.)
8. Clear pitchers of water set up on the table
9. "Me and MCC" water stickers for those who participate.
10. Copies of the MCC Fun Page and Water Booklet to hand out to participants.
11. Collect additional water facts and post around the room. I visited our regional government office where they have a water resources department and was able to obtain local facts specific to our area. What are the water issues in your community?

 

De-briefing Questions/Points

These are suggestions - there are many more.

1. What was surprising to you as you made your way around the table?
2. Where did you have to use most of your dimes?
3. Quickly do a breakdown of the group (1 in 6) to indicate how many would be without clean drinking water if they represented the world's population.
4. Discuss the fact that oil has been a source of conflict in the twentieth century and many agree that water will be as much or even more a source of conflict the 21st century. How will we respond when we are the ones who have had easy access to clean water and have taken it for granted?

 

Water Facts

for Water Table Activity Cards, or for posters, etc.

• 70% of the Earth's surface is covered by water.

97.5% of that water is salty.

Give a dime if you swam in the ocean and got a mouthful of seawater.

• In Brazil, Severina has to walk over 3 km. to get fresh water for her family to drink. If you had to walk 3 km to get water would you run through a water sprinkler?

Give a dime if you ran through a water sprinkler this past year.

• In countries where water is scarce, women and children often have to walk three kilometres or more every day to gather water.

Give a dime if you have gone camping and had to walk more than 10 metres to get water.

• 1 billion people around the world do not have access to clean drinking water.

Give a dime for each drink of water you had today.

• The average North American uses 646 litres of water each day.

The World Health Organization says that each person needs 55 litres a day for drinking, cooking and cleanliness.

Give a dime for each time for each time you washed your hands today.

• You can survive 2 months without food, but only 3 days without water.

Give a dime if you have ever been really thirsty.

• An average household uses 7.6 litres of water each dayfor brushing teeth.

Give 3 dimes if you leave the water running while you brush your teeth.

• One in six people around the world do not have access to clean water.

Give a dime to help MCC build water storage tanks (cisterns) in Brazil.

• 70% of all available fresh water is used for growing food that we eat.

Give a dime if you have a vegetable garden at home.

• In Kenya, MCC is helping to build dams made from sand to provide water for growing crops.

Give a dime if you have made water dams while playing in the sand.

• MCC is helping build a concrete canal in Vietnam to provide water for rice fields.

Give a dime if you watered your lawn this summer.

• 97% of the earth's water is too salty to drink.

2% of the earth's water is frozen.

Only 1% of the earth's water is available for drinking!

Give a dime if you like ice cubes in your water.

• Many people around the world live without running water in their homes.

Give a dime for each water tap in your home.

• A tap that drips once every second wastes 3.8 litres of water each day.

Give 3 dimes if you have a drippy tap at home.

• For six months of the year, parts of Bolivia are too dry to grow crops.

An irrigation pump means that the Flores family can have a secure source of food for the whole year.

Give a dime so MCC can help other families in Bolivia obtain an irrigation pump.

• How much water do you think you use in one day?

Do you think you could use less?

Give a dime for each way you can think of to use less water.

• Some children in Laos do not have water at their school to wash their hands or to drink.

Give a dime to help MCC build wells at schools in Laos.

• In Brazil, Geralda Maria and her family have a water cistern that MCC helped to build. "Now, when neighbours who do not have a cistern ask for water, I give them some."

Share a dime to help MCC build cisterns for Geralda's neighbours.

• Children in Vietnam do not have drinking water at their school.

How many drinking fountains did you have at your school?

Give a dime for each one.

• One drop of car oil will make 25 litres of water unfit to drink.

Give 3 dimes if you came to this meeting in a car.

• North America's Great Lakes contain 25% of the world's freshwater.

Give a dime for each Great Lake that you can name.

• One flush of a normal toilet uses as much water as the average person in the developing world uses for a whole day's washing, cleaning, cooking and drinking.

Give a dime for each toilet you have in your home.

• In Ontario, our water comes from various sources such as lakes, rivers and underground aquifers.

Give a dime if you know the source of your water.

• Some experts predict that water will be as precious in the 21st century as oil was in the 20th century.

How many times today have you taken God's good gift for granted?

If you have dimes left, give them to help MCC provide water to those who do not have any.