Chapel Hill High School’s French Club, led by French teacher Christen Campbell, is conducting a sale of reusable water bottles to help reduce plastic bottle waste and to benefit girls’ education in Morocco.
The fundraiser has made over $650 so far by selling more than 100 bottles, but Campbell hopes to raise $1,046 (the amount required to sponsor one girl’s education) for the organization Education For All (EFA). EFA builds boarding houses that serve as schools in Morocco’s rural High Atlas Mountains, where educational facilities are limited and usually have low female attendance.
Since opening in 2007, when it served just 36 students out of a single boarding house, EFA has expanded to five facilities around Morocco, serving a combined 185 students.
The sale’s website cites former First Lady Michelle Obama’s #62milliongirls movement, a reference to the number of girls worldwide who are not receiving an education, as inspiration. A 2014 study by the Education Policy Data Center found that 46% of possible female secondary students in Morocco do not attend school. Some rural areas have an illiteracy rate as high as 83% among women.
Each bottle’s graphic is produced by website Bottle Motion and emblazoned with the words “CHHS Makes A Difference,” decided upon by Campbell. “[I just] made it up,” she said when asked about the slogan’s origin.
“I love seeing my students having these water bottles and using them, and I think they’re proud to use them,” Campbell said. “And they look really good—let’s be honest.”
Junior Noah Pettee learned about the sale through Campbell’s class and bought a bottle. “I wanted to support the cause [of] sending Moroccan girls to school,” he said. “Some people wouldn’t buy [a bottle] if [the sale] didn’t have this cause going for it.”
Senior Madeleine Mount-Cors also bought one of the water bottles because she wanted to support girls education in Morocco. “I also wanted to support the water filling stations, which Ms. Campbell pushed to install around the school,” Mount-Cors said.
Any additional money raised will go to fund swim lessons for children in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools district. “I wanted the water bottle project to focus not only on something my kids were studying, but also something that was relevant to our community,” Campbell said.
