8.RP.1.1

**By: Michael Toler, Joseph Smith** One of the many problems in Africa is the lack of clean water. Because there is little clean water, more than half the African population has little water to use for drinking and other domestic uses. Every three out of four Africans get their water from underground sources. But because the underground water makes up only fifteen percent of the continents water the rest of the African villages and population have to use streams and rain water. If a village is lucky they will have a stream nearby if they don’t have an underground source of water. But most of the time the villagers will have to travel long distances to reach the streams. The families will usually send the female to retrieve the water. The water from the stream is usually contaminated with various diseases such as bilharzia, which is a parasitic worm that can penetrate the skin of someone swimming or bathing in contaminated water. Another common disease is sleeping sickness, which is another parasite that causes an infection that attacks the meninges, which are the coverings of the brain and spinal cord and usually proves fatal. The poor water quality also has a hazardous effect on children. The water can give children cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery, and pneumonia. These diseases have been killing the children in record numbers. Now that we have discussed the problem it is time to discuss some possible solutions. One way is to raise money through a fundraiser. The fundraiser would sell different things like candles and stuff like that. Then we would purchase a salt water filtration system and donate it toAfrica. If there isn’t enough money to do that then we could use what money was earned and send over iodine. If you didn’t know, iodine can clean water and wounds, which is why we would send it.
 * African Water Problem**

Works Cited "Diseases in Africa." //ThinkQuest//. Oracle Foundation. Web. 22 Mar. 2012. . "Water Facts | The Water Information Program." //The Water Information Program//. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. . "Water, Sanitation and Hygiene." //UNICEF//. Web. 22 Mar. 2012. .