Ted Poe: “Every day, Kanze Kahindi leaves her small village in southeast Kenya on a mission. Her mission? Find water. She walks 13…”

“Every day, Kanze Kahindi leaves her small village in southeast Kenya on a mission. Her mission? Find water. She walks 13 miles one way to fetch water from the closest resource: a muddy pond polluted with animal and human waste. Then she walks home. Mr. Speaker, that is 26 miles a day--a marathon. Kanze has been doing this almost every day for 40 years. She walks thousands of miles for something Americans take for granted. We can simply turn on our faucets and out comes clean, drinkable water. But not for Kanze, and not for 1 billion people around the world who don't have access to running water. That is why the Water for the World Act Representative Blumenauer and I authored is now the law. This legislation requires a comprehensive plan for the U.S. to aid other countries in securing clean water. We have it in our power to help people like Kanze. No one on this Earth should be denied access to this basic resource needed for survival--because water is life. And that is just the way it is. ____________________”