June 2021 Update: The impact grows!

I had the chance to speak with this class during their inquiry unit and they had great questions and are now taking inspiring action. A Grade two class in British Columbia raises $6000 to bring fresh water to those without access! Article Here

2021 update: Singapore student walks for water!

Miles has been walking for months carrying water to build a well for those in need. So proud of you! Article about Miles

December 2020 update: The spring has been built! 

 

All the hard work has paid off! The water project that all you donors generously contributed too has become a reality! Finleys Spring has opened and is providing water for over 200 people located in Mayanga Sub-County, in the Mitooma district of Western Uganda. Adrine Bigariraho is a 51-year old woman living in Mayanga village, and a beneficiary of the new Spring. Adrine was so happy, and expressed her appreciation for having received clean and safe water in her village. In her statement, she recalled her memories of the village and the dirty water they have grown up using, which has negatively affected their entire lives. She’s now confident that her children and grandchildren can have a better and healthy life, and attend school without fail. She projects a great future for her family and the community. 

This project supports development in poor, rural schools and villages by improving access to clean water and sanitation services, which allows students to stay in school and community members to participate in other social and economic activities. In addition to their typical WASH program, the RWIDF (Rukungiri Women’s Integrated Development Foundation) team have included COVID-19 awareness training, and help to create ‘Village Saving and Loans’ programs for future sustainability of the water sources. 

Over the months that I have raised money I was able to raise $4237.37 and I walked 351 Km. This money has now been put to great use and I can’t thank you all enough. I was lucky enough to be honoured with an award called the “Shining World Compassion award” and you can see the news report found here. (Go to 21:00 minutes). Ryan has been such an inspiration to me and it was meeting him that has inspired me to do this in the first place and to keep going from here. Ryans Well Foundation does so much good work around the world and I look forward to working with them more in the future. At my new school I have joined the Clean Water Initiative service group and hope to make a difference with this group of students. 

Thanks again for all your support, more to come…

Lets make a better world together! 

Finley

Humanitarian Award Nov 2020 (21:00 in the video)

Post from June 10th, 2020 – My Walk for Water Wrap Up 

It has been a super fun week and a lot of stuff has happened. As I am finishing my walk for water I am realizing that this money will help so many people, thank you. My final walk ended up being 20km on Saturday May 30th to Westport. I am still pretty tired from my final walk but it was worth it . I would like to thank my family for all the support and all the strangers who donated because I was on the news or they saw me on the walk. When I finished my walk that Saturday I had an amazing surprise waiting for me. A whole bunch of people blowing whistles and cheering to support me and Ryan from Ryan’s Well was there, it was a huge surprise. I would also like to thank Darryn Davis who interviewed me for Global News and donated. Thank you to Fresh Radio for interviewing me and giving me a birthday shoutout also. On my final walk several cars pulled over and donated to my walk, the kindness of strangers. There was also a member of Rotary Club Kingston who surprised us along the way by taking photos, interviewing me and I even got to speak at their meeting about my walk, last Wednesday. Westport Brewery was so kind to give us pizza and also sponsor from each pizza sold that day. 

My totals are, walking 351km, and I have raised $4237.37. I passed my original goals of 150km and $3000. It’s amazing what can happen when you just keep trying. I would like to thank everyone who donated, supported me, and just sent me a nice email to congratulate me. During my walk for water I learned a lot, the journey was quite an experience and I don’t want all that to stop. So later this week I will be interviewing Ryan to figure out my next steps. Ryan was 6 when he started making a difference, I just turned 11, no matter what age we are we can all make a difference. Even if we don’t know we can.

I will add one more reflection video to this blog to talk about my learning and I thank you all for coming on this journey with me. Here is my magazine interview 

Finley

Rotary Club Kingston Supports My Walk

Update Post from May 29th 2020 – My Birthday! 

It has been quite the week! It started by being interviewed on the radio. Here is my radio interview on Fresh Radio.Monica and Al were so amazing! Then I was on Global News Kingston. Here is my TV interview on Global News. Darryn Davis was such a nice guy and I learned a lot about how TV reporting works.

Thursday I was interviewed by Toronto life magazine and I recorded an assembly video for the Welborne Wildcats for Friday morning. Today is my birthday and Fresh Radio was very kind to me. Here is my Birthday shout out on the radio

Tomorrow May 30th is my big walk from my cottage to Westport. Please come out and support us as we leave at 9:00am and hope to arrive at Westport Brewing between 1:00-2:00pm. Thank you to the Westport Brewery for donating and supporting our final walk. A portion of sales on Saturday will go to the Walk for Water. Eat pizza, support a local business and our cause.

Today I hit 331km, so when I get to Westport I will be at exactly 350kms! My Walking Log is found here. Donations will be accepted until May 31st and as always you can donate directly to me at finleywwjohnston@gmail.com or through Ryan’s Well Foundation on their website. Be sure to say it is for “Finley’s Walk For Water”. https://www.ryanswell.ca/

Ryan was 6 when he started helping people get access to water, I am now 11. No matter what age you are we can all make a difference in the world.

Hope to see you tomorrow in person at distance or virtually! Wear Blue!

Finley

Update Post from May 25th 2020

5 Days To The Big Walk! 

I will be interviewed on the radio station 104.3 Fresh Radio in Kingston Tuesday May 26th at 8:30am. Please have a listen and my interview and information will be linked to their website afterwards. https://1043freshradio.ca/ You can listen live from anywhere in the world on the website if you wish.

As of today I am at 306.9 Km’s and will be aiming for 350km by the end of my final walk on Saturday May 30th. The route is set, 19km from my cottage to Westport. I will be taking Greenbay Road and then McNeil Road to Lee Road and then to Fermoy. From there I will be walking the rest of the way on Westport Road and ending at the Westport Brewing Company on Main Street for some pizza. We will leave Palmer Lane at 9:00am and should arrive in Westport between 1:00-2:00pm. We will update our progress on Facebook from my dads account. Please come out and walk with us (At a safe distance of course) and/or come out and cheer as we go by. You can donate on the walk, we will have a long stick with a net for donations. You will recognize us because we will all be in blue for our “Walk for Water”. Please also wear blue and white to support us. We will also have two Canadian flags and two special flags as we walk. If you can’t be there in person, send me a picture of you wearing blue and white to my email finleywwjohnston@gmail.com with some encouragement.

Donations will be accepted until May 31st and as always you can donate directly to me or through Ryan’s Well Foundation on their website. Be sure to say it is for “Finley’s Walk For Water”. https://www.ryanswell.ca/

I will be updating on social media this week and will post a final blog after the weekend.Everyone has been so amazing including friends who are now doing their own walk for water, way to go Miles!

Thank you for all your support!

Finley

 

Update Post from May 21st 2020

I’m over 290 km and getting close to passing 300 km! Thank you to all the generous people who donated and if you want to donate there’s still time. You can simply email transfer to me or donate directly to Ryan’s Well Foundation and say that you are supporting Finley’s walk for water. My email is finleywwjohnston@gmail.com. 

I am excited to announce my final walk for water for this project. It has been over two months and almost 50 walks in snow, in the rain, in the mud and with the bugs lately. Kids who actually have to walk for water not only have to carry water that is very heavy but they also deal with tough weather and conditions. You can see all my walks here. The date for my final walk is May 30th, the day after my 11th birthday. I will announce the exact timing and my route on facebook next week but I’m walking all the way to Westport from my house which is 19 km! And anyone in Westport or along the way who wants to cheer me on is welcome, (from a safe distance of course)  it would really inspire me to keep going. I will be accepting donations to the end of May. 

On this walk for water I have learned a lot of things both about water and about myself, like how to communicate for example. I have learned how to communicate with people in thank you calls and teaching a grade 2 class online. I am learning how to stay fit , a lot about water ,and got to learn a lot about my computer and online work. Thanks again to everyone who donated and I hope you care about this cause as much as I do and I hope you want to continue to help beyond my project. Some days I don’t feel like walking and then I think about people who don’t have a choice and I just keep going and going, with that as my inspiration. This has been an experience that I will never forget and your support has kept me going. I will continue to work to help people around the world access fresh water and hope you will help also. 

Sincerely 

Finley 

P.S. Later on I will post a video with my thoughts on what I have learned through this whole experience. I have learned a lot about water issues, I have got better at many skills and it makes me really feel very proud to help people and really start to make a difference. 

Update Post from April 28th 2020

Today I actually walked for water, I bet you’re thinking, what?,  Haven’t you been walking for water for over a month now? Well the answer is yes I have been walking for water for over a month, but today I actually walked for water literally! I carried two big plastic jugs, because I was unsure about how much I could carry, and I walked 3km to the other end of the lake. Then I filled one of the jugs up and started walking 3km back with 12 liters in the plastic jug. As I started with 12, the first 100 meters felt like kilometers and it was to heavy. I ended up finishing my walk with 7 and a quarter liters.

Now that I have experienced what it’s like to carry water with me I look at things in a new way now. Instead of just walking each day, like I have been doing so far, many kids around the world have to carry water longer than I did and sometimes twice a day. Sometimes when they get there its not clean lake water like I collected. It can be murky brown water so dirty that when you drink it you have to plug your nose because it tastes so gross. This walk has really made me think about how lucky we are to have clean tap water everyday. It has also made me think about how much water we use. I learned from FAO.org that in Africa, household water use averages 47 liters per person. In Asia, the average is 95 liters. In the United Kingdom the average is 334 liters per person per day and in the United States the average is 578 liters per person per day. I CARRIED 7.25 LITERS…

I am almost at 200 km and I have raised over $1200 so far and I will be taking donations for a few more weeks. Originally my goal was to walk a total of 150 km, but now that I am walking every day my new goal is double that 300 km! Please do donate to help people get access to fresh water so they can go to school and stay healthy! My email is finleywwjohnston@gmail.com. My walking log is here.

Sincerely,

Finley

 

 

 

Original Post from March 2020

Some kids my age have to walk eight hours every day in the scorching heat with thorns piercing their feet every step just to get a jug of unclean water for their family to drink. I learned so much from reading the book, A Long Walk to Water, and interviewing Ryan from Ryan’s Well Foundation.  I knew I had to take action but the question was how? I have decided to go on my own walk for water. 

In these times of social isolation what I can do is walk, and help others. Please support my walk for water to help me build a well with the help of Ryan’s Well Foundation. I am aiming to walk 150 kilometers, for some kids around the world this less than what they have to do every month. You can support me by sponsoring a certain amount per kilometer, or a one time donation of your choice. Together we can make a change to educate others about water and give a village access to what we can sometimes take for granted every day. If you want to support my walk for water you can do one or more of the following.

1. You can give the money to me personally
2. You can send me a cheque in the mail – 2400 Sands Road, Battersea, Ontario, K0H 1H0
3. You can email transfer me the money to my bank account to finleywwjohnston@gmail.com with the title Walk for Water
4. You can also use Ryan’s Well Foundation and pay by credit card directly. (Please say “Finley’s Walk for Water” in the section titled Reason for donating) (You can also get a tax receipt this way) 

If you would like to sponsor me per km, please email me at finleywwjohnston@gmail.com and let me know how much and how you will donate at the end. I will email you when I complete the walk.

I will be taking all that has been sent to me and all that goes straight to Ryan’s Well Foundation and will publish a running total on my blog and a total once complete. I am aiming to raise $3000 which would be about one fourth of the cost of a well project.

Please see the Google Doc to see locations and distances of my walks. You may want to try some of these! Take a look at my training sessions over the last week.  Link to Walk Log If you want to read my full paper take a look at this google doc and please comment. we can all make a difference. Link to Full Paper

Thank you for your support

Sincerely,

Finley Johnston