In this final week of training, we prepared everything we could so that camp would run as smoothly as possible. However, things began to fall apart both quite literally. We experienced two earthquakes of magnitude 6.4 and 7.1 on Thursday and Friday, respectively, which opened my eyes to the devastating impacts of these natural disasters. Although we were far from the epicenter and were not heavily impacted, the damage in other areas of California were tremendous. In light of this earthquake, I thought about how it related to my lesson plan and experiences at Girls Inc.
One of the lessons I learned through developing my lesson plan about water scarcity is how much environmental factors could impact your socioeconomic status. In the case of the earthquake, you could go from having dinner with your family one moment to being homeless the next. With the “Big One” impending, it makes me think about how an earthquake a hundred times the strength of the one we experienced could drastically alter life in California. Similar to the impact that earthquakes can have on California, another major issue this state faces is water scarcity.
One of our primary goals with the lesson plan is to teach the girls about how there are numerous barriers to obtaining clean water whether it be physical, economic, or lack of efficient technology. With any one of these obstacles, quality of life significantly decreases, forcing you to focus on your basic needs. Although access to clean water is a human right, we oftentimes take this resource for granted and do not think about how much work goes into water filtration. With current climate conditions, almost half the world population will be living in water stressed conditions by 2030 if change is not enacted. With camp starting on Monday, I want to be able to best relate the campers’ current experiences to the lesson plans in order to make these girls the change-makers of tomorrow.