EVA TOLAGE

Eva Tolage é unha rapaza de Malinzanga, unha pequena aldea de Tanzania.

Hai moitos problemas na súa aldea, e un dos máis grandes é a falta de auga.

Para ela, rematar a educación primaria non foi doado, xa que os seus pais non sempre puideron pagar o seu uniforme e libros de texto. O seu pai dicíalle que quería que tivese unha vida mellor ca que tivo el, e por iso traballaba dende o amencer ata o solpor todos os días para que ela puidera ir á escola.

En 2015, cando tiña catorce anos, esperaba poder comezar a educación secundaria para converterse en policía. Se facía isto, podería coidar da súa familia e manter a súa comunidade a salvo.

Cerca da súa casa, onde vivía cos seus pais e os seus cinco irmáns, tiña un pozo de perforación, pero o nivel de auga era demasiado baixo, así que tiña que camiñar un quilómetro ata o río, e facía isto cinco veces ao día. Gustaríalle moito máis estar na escola, pero non tiña opción.

Ela e as súas compañeiras de clase tiñan que camiñar sete quilómetros para ir a buscar auga ao río. Toda a comunidade usaba o mesmo río para cociñar, limpar, lavar e beber, o que ocasionaba que moita xente tivera dor de estómago e outras enfermidades. E para as rapazas, o traxecto a buscar auga era perigoso, xa que algunhas eran agredidas, e isto remataba en embarazos precoces e tamén en matrimonios forzados. Tamén se arriscaban a ser atacadas por animais salvaxes.

Eva e as súas compañeiras de clase do colexio Mlowa escribiron unha carta aos seus líderes locais pedindo auga e instalacións sanitarias para o seu colexio, pero foron ignoradas.

Pero en lugar de renderse, decidiu formar equipo con ONE e Restless Development.

O 1 de xaneiro de 2015 escribiu unha carta a todos os membros de ONE para que axudaran a erradicar a pobreza extrema na súa aldea e en todos os lugares coma ela no mundo, para o ano 2030. Pero non se detivo aí, e en setembro escribiu unha reclamación ao presidente Obama. E Obama respondeu, nun discurso na Asemblea Xeral das Nacións Unidas onde se acordaron os Obxectivos Globais de Desenvolvemento Sostible: "Dígolle a Eva e a centos de millóns coma ti, vémoste. Escoitámoste. Lin a túa carta e comprometémonos como nacións como un só mundo co traballo urxente que hai que facer".

Este feito alentouna a continuar facendo cousas para tentar solucionar o problema da falta de auga na súa localidade, así que empezou a súa propia campaña, #StandWithEva. En febreiro de 2016, xunto coas súas compañeiras, Eva pediu ao goberno de Tanzania que mantivera a súa promesa de proporcionarlles auga limpa e electricidade. En soamente catro meses, 150.000 persoas se uniron á súa petición, para que ela e as súas compañeiras puideran estar en clase en lugar de pasar o tempo camiñando para ir a buscar auga.

En xuño de 2016, as súas compañeiras e mais ela reuníronse co presidente de Tanzania no Parlamento Nacional en Dodoma para entregarlle a súa petición, e obtivo a súa resposta.

Despois, Eva reuniuse co goberno local e traballou co comité da súa escola para conseguir que os líderes levasen auga corrente ao seu colexio.

En xuño de 2017, un novo subministro de auga foi instalado cerca da súa escola, e finalmente a súa comunidade tivo auga limpa e potable.

Eva di que aprendeu que a voz da xente nova coma ela é importante e debería escoitarse. Cos seus amigos, a súa comunidade e a xente que os apoia, probaron que o seu poder pode cambiar as cousas, e que se permanecen xuntos os líderes escoitarán.

As nenas e mulleres fortes coma ela están cambiando o seu mundo para mellor. Non están agardando a outros para empezar, están a facelo elas mesmas e a súa mensaxe debe amplificarse.

A todos os problemas que existen nas aldeas coma a de Eva, sumouse o da pandemia da Covid-19. Coa enfermidade aínda propagándose polo mundo, os líderes dos países desenvolvidos deberían seguir investindo para acadar equidade vacinal. Mentres os países ricos acaparaban vacinas e subministraban doses de reforzo dun xeito inxusto e irresponsable, nos países menos afortunados billóns de persoas quedaron desprotexidas, o que causou o espallamento das variantes do virus. Os países desenvolvidos deberían axudar a proporcionar tests, tratamentos, vacinas e apoio na entrega aos países en vías de desenvolvemento, se queremos rematar coa pandemia dunha vez por todas en 2022.

Eva Tolage is a girl from Malinzanga, a small village in Tanzania.

There are many problems in her village, and one of the biggest is the lack of water.

For her, finishing primary education was not easy, as her parents could not always afford her uniform and textbooks. Her father told her that he wanted her to have a better life than he had, and that's why he worked from dawn to dusk every day so that she could go to school.

In 2015, when she was fourteen years old, she hoped to be able to start secondary education to become a police officer. If she did this, she could take care of his family and keep her community safe.

Near her house, where she lived with her parents and five brothers, she had a borehole, but the water level was too low, so she had to walk a kilometer to the river, and she did this five times a day. She would much rather be in school, but she had no choice.

She and her classmates had to walk seven kilometers to fetch water from the river. The whole community used the same river for cooking, cleaning, washing and drinking, which caused many people to have stomachaches and other ailments. And for the girls, the journey to fetch water was dangerous, as some were assaulted, and this ended in early pregnancies and also in forced marriages. They also risked being attacked by wild animals.

Eva and her classmates at Mlowa School wrote a letter to their local leaders asking for water and sanitation facilities for their school, but they were ignored.

But instead of giving up, she decided to team up with ONE and Restless Development.

On January 1, 2015, she wrote a letter to all ONE members to help eradicate extreme poverty in her village, and everywhere like it in the world, by the year 2030. But she didn't stop there, and in September she wrote a complaint to President Obama. And Obama responded, in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly where the Global Sustainable Development Goals were agreed: "I say to Eva and hundreds of millions like you, we see you. We hear you. I 've read your letter and we commit ourselves as nations as ONE world to the urgent work that must be done."

This fact encouraged her to continue doing things to try to solve the problem of lack of water in her town, so she started her own campaign, #StandWithEva. In February 2016, together with her colleagues, Eva asked the Tanzanian government to keep its promise to provide them with clean water and electricity. In just four months, 150,000 people joined her petition, so that she and her classmates could be in class instead of spending time walking to fetch water.

In June 2016, she and her colleagues met with the President of Tanzania at the National Parliament in Dodoma to deliver her petition, and she got his answer.

Eva then met with the local government and worked with her school committee to get leaders to bring running water to her school.

In June 2017, a new water supply was installed near her school, and her community finally had clean, potable water.

Eva says she learned that the voice of young people like her is important and should be heard. With their friends, their community and the people who support them, they have proven that their power can change things, and that if they stick together leaders will listen.

Strong girls and women like her are changing their world for the better. They are not waiting for others to start, they are doing it themselves and their message must be amplified.

To all the problems that exist in villages like Eva, the Covid-19 pandemic has been added. With the disease still spreading around the world, leaders in developed countries should continue to invest in achieving vaccine equity. While rich countries hoarded vaccines and provided booster doses in an unfair and irresponsible way, billions of people in less fortunate countries were left unprotected, causing variants of the virus to spread. Developed countries should help provide tests, treatments, vaccines and delivery support to developing countries if we are to end the pandemic once and for all by 2022.