2008 Woodie Awards
Professor travels to Sudan to aid in water projects
By Colin McGuire
Rocket Life/A&E Editor
Issue date: 4/1/05 Section: Life
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For Slippery Rock University's professor of ceramics Richard Wukich, the warmth of Christmas didn't come from his loved ones; it came from the splintering heat of the deserts in the country of Sudan. The joy didn't come from the look on his loved one's faces when they received their gifts; it came from the notion of granting a child another day of his or her depleted life.
You see, Wukich didn't spend his Christmas in the lovely confines of his own home. He didn't even spend his Christmas in the lovely confines of his own country. Wukich spent his winter break in the heart of Sudan, developing water filters that would enable less fortunate individuals to drink clean water while saving thousands of lives daily from water born diseases.
"I spent three weeks in Sudan from December until the day before this semester began," he said. "It was great. Seeing the look on the kids' faces after we had given them clean water was something I'll never forget."
Traveling to Sudan wasn't Wukich's first experience helping less fortunate people over seas. In January of 2004, he traveled to Iraq in an attempt to help clean contaminated water.
"We were lining up water filters in Baghdad," he said. "It turned out to be an unsuccessful project. The security was bad and there was no transportation. It began to get dangerous. I ended up going back in March, and that ended up being tough. When I tried to go back again in May, it just didn't work."
With all of that said, it is no secret that along with his work at SRU, Wukich has devoted his life to making a difference in less fortunate places around the world by helping providing individuals with clean and healthy water.
"I am a member of Potters for Peace," he said. "We make water filters for people all around the world. We have plants almost everywhere."
Wukich's passion has led him to begin work on his most recent project, an elaborate exhibition of filter receptacles here at SRU that plans on starting in September. With this event, Wukich hopes to raise awareness about this problem that seems to be growing at an incredible rate.
"This is growing faster than I can handle," he said. "It's great. Some of the top ceramic artists in the country are planning on coming to Slippery Rock to help the cause. We have people showing interest from New York, Texas and Chicago.
From Slippery Rock, we plan to take the show on the road. The plan is to have people come to see the artists' work while learning about what they can do to stop water born diseases themselves. We are really trying to raise public consciousness with this project."
In addition to bringing this exhibition to SRU, Wukich has donated homemade beer mugs to the North County Brewery downtown that are currently available. All proceeds will help raise money for water projects in Sudan, Honduras and Iraq.
"The biggest thing we need right now is money," he said. "I know that people always want to do the right thing, and this is a great vehicle to be able to help do so. We hope to assemble equipment at SRU that people can export to create peaceful places."
Wukich said he believes contaminated water is a number one health problem, as 11,000 children die each day from water born diseases. He hopes this project can be part of the cure.
"My goal is to use my experience to develop a program to train water filter technicians here at Slippery Rock," he said. "We need to spread awareness about this awful epidemic. I just want to be part of the cure."
