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On the surface, it sounds like a good idea, a pump with brightly colored wheels that children will play on; as the wheel turns it pumps water:
http://tinyurl.com/mbkcq3
This idea was obviously conceived by a First World citizen who knows nothing about life in small African villages.
This concept is built on the notion that these children are healthy, robust, and have plenty of spare time to play. In fact, children have duties to perform; gathering fuel, tending livestock, caring for younger siblings while their parents struggle for survival. They are often depleted by disease and parasitic infections, worn out from physical labor and the demanding struggle for survival.
Statistics on the pump:
"Capable of producing up to 1,400 liters of water per hour at 16 rpm from a depth of 40 meters, it is effective up to a depth of 100 meters."
One can easily see the potential for abuse here. Forcing children to turn the wheel to provide water on top of all the other demands placed on them is a real possibility. I probably wouldn't have a problem with this device if it weren't targeting children as the source of the labor.
This is the thing Kirstie Alley decided to promote in her recent "aquathon" on Twitter. Kirstie's been twittering a lot lately. Sometimes she's on all day long, leading one to suspect she's not doing much of anything else lately. Occasionally, her twitters are incomprehensible gobbledegook coupled with a volume that makes me wonder if she's emulation that old dead con man who founded her "religion." L. Ron Hubbard used to ingest stimulants before sitting down at a typewriter loaded with butcher paper. The result? The entire body of publications considered the doctrines of Scientology. His stuff doesn't make much sense either.
Kirstie obviously did not look up the 'thon' in her dictionary.
A marathon, a telethon, a twitterthon, these are supposed to be grueling challenges to endurance. Old Jerry Lewis, bless him, is still a trouper when it comes to his annual telethon.
Kirstie went to bed at 10:00, urging her twitter followers to "keep on donating." She made the very least effort she could get away with and went to bed. That's real dedication.