A slice of Africa came to Wanganui's riverfront on Saturday.
Shirley Spooner's Water Walk for Africa fundraising event between the Cobham Bridge and City Bridge brought some African flair to the riverfront as teams of walkers carefully balanced a full cup of water in their hands for 2km, while memorising different kinds of African animals and the order in which they appeared along the way. The walk raised money for the people of Ethiopia and Somalia, collectively known as the Horn of Africa, who are facing starvation due to drought.
The walking event was the final of about 12 events for the cause run by the Equippers Church, and bought in $1400. Mrs Spooner says she is thrilled with how the event went, which was designed to get people thinking about the fact that many people in the Horn of Africa have to walk for days to get water.
At the finish line, it wasn't who was over first, but who had managed to retain the most water and remember all the animals they had seen along the way in the right order. Some of the competitors were definitely in it to win it, walking very carefully in the head wind, she said.
At the end of the day, it was teams from Axiam Plastic who took the top two places, with a team from St Peter's Anglican Church placing third. They received famine prizes, which included rice, pasta, coffee vouchers, water bottles, bread dough vouchers.