Environmental Sustainability/Water
Jackie and Jill: A Water Skit
Photo: Paul Jeffrey/ACT-CWS |
Actors: Narrator, Jackie, Jill
Props: Jackie and Jill are a mother and daughter from a country in the developing world. They need a couple of containers each with which to carry water. The bigger the containers are (within reason) the better, although Jill’s containers should be smaller than Jackie’s. The average weight women in the developing world carry on their heads when collecting water is 44 pounds – about the same as the airlines have for carry-on baggage (40 lbs).
This sketch is written in rhyme and will need to be practiced in order to get the rhythm and the rhyme to work. The actors should mime the actions as the narrator speaks and should respond to what each other is saying with gestures and facial expression, rather than standing there passively.
Narrator:
Jackie and Jill
Went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
No sign of Jack
He’s hit the sack
So it’s just Jackie
And her daughter.
In some countries, you see,
It’s women’s work to be
Providing for needs of their homes.
But light work it’s not;
Water weighs quite a lot
And carrying it’s bad for your bones.
Now you’re sitting there,
Saying “Why should I care?
There’s water quite near to
Their home.
So why do Jackie and Jill,
Trudge off to the hill?
They’re choosing that distance
To roam.’
Jill:
Ah, but the water down here,
It’s not very clear,
While up there on the hill it’s
Quite healthy.
But to have water here
That’s fresh, clean and clear
We’d have to be really
Quite wealthy.
Narrator:
So they’re forced to go,
To walk to and fro
From here all the way to the hill.
Jackie:
With nothing clean to drink,
How long do you think
Before all my children fall ill?
Narrator:
Are you starting to see
How great it would be
To have a well below in the valley?
Jill:
I’d not have to still
Trudge up that big hill,
Or trudge back with a full pail
To carry.
Jackie:
I would be fine.
I’d have lots of time
To work and bring home some
Hard cash.
Kids free from disease,
My mind more at ease,
And no longer tired from the dash.
Jill:
With time on my hands,
My outlook looks grand.
I could learn to read and to write.
There’s no limit to things
Education can bring.
It makes the future look bright.
Narrator:
Now you’ve understood
All of the good
That can come from providing
Clean water.
Jackie:
It’s not just about health,
But also about wealth,
And having the time to do things
That we oughta.
(From H2 KnOw produced by Christian Aid, London, United Kingdom. Used with permission.)