The dry, cracked ground in the Lake Manyara region of Northern Tanzania speaks for itself.
The rainy season has entirely neglected the area, plaguing it with hosts of dust storms, decimated crops and thirsty people.
Meanwhile in Arusha, a short 45-minute drive east of Lake Manyara, the rain has thoroughly saturated the land. It is a contradiction of fatal proportions for millions of Tanzanians and one of a simple nod of the head for millions of Americans.
A small group of 13 American students have increased their awareness of the world water crisis by studying abroad with Arcadia University's Human Rights and East African Culture program in Arusha, Tanzania.
The murky reality of unsafe drinking water was revealed to the students when they turned on the tap water for the first time in Tanzania and a brown liquid sprang from the faucet.
Of the one billion people worldwide who do not have access to safe drinking water, millions reside in Tanzania, turning a typical study abroad program into a lesson in survival.
Lalahe Mollel, 22, a Maasai warrior from Lake Manyara, is no longer a statistic to the students. In order for Mollel and his family to access fresh water, they have to trek through the bush for four hours. Even warriors cannot rival East Africa's seemingly merciless climate.
Karla Lund, a fellow American student studying abroad in Tanzania, accompanied Mollel on the trek one day and discovered the one watering hole that nourishes an entire village was filled with mud.
"It was an extremely exhausting journey that left us thirsty and empty-handed," Lund said.
Water is not only necessary for drinking in Tanzania. Agriculture accounts for more than 40 percent of the gross domestic product and entire villages rely on small-scale subsistence farming to survive. Therefore, almost every Tanzanian is highly dependent on the annual rainy seasons to bring water, crops and income.
Unfortunately for Mollel and millions of other Tanzanians, the recent erratic climate changes have caused severe droughts in some areas and uncontrollable flooding in others.
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"Climate change is affecting Africa right now," said Daniel Pallangyo, an environmental law professor at Makumira University of Tanzania. "Africa stands to be one of the most vulnerable environmental regions because a majority of African countries are too poor to adapt to the changed environment."
So what does this mean for Miami University students thousands of miles away from the problem?
According to Jenny Krzmarzick, co-organizer of Miami's Running Water 5K, "Spreading awareness about such an issue, such as the need for clean drinking water, is important so that students are inspired to act and advocate for such a cause and so they may become more aware of the global challenges that others face."
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