Are you tired of having to wake up half an hour earlier to deal with unbearable traffic that awaits you each morning while going to work and giving your child a ride to school? Yeah, we feel you…
Being stuck in a traffic jam sucks, but at least you are in your comfy car, where you can play some music and make your journey more pleasant. You can also turn on the A/C if it’s too hot outside. Plus, you’re ‘indoors’ so nothing much can happen to you. No mosquitos, no snakes, and no heat can kill you.
Yup, you read that right. If a 9-mile road at rush hour feels like hell for you, then you haven’t listened to the heartbreaking torment a lot of kids living in Sierra Leone need to go through on daily basis. Children that will do anything in their powers for a good education. Students that are aware that only education can help them overcome the issues their society is currently facing.
This week’s #ThrowBrandThursday takes us to the West African country, where youths have to literally walk through fire and (malaria-ridden) water to get to classes. And that’s not it. For nine miles, they endure deadly snakes, mosquitoes, traffickers, 100+ degree heat, and no drinking water.
All this on foot, that means around five hours of sweaty hell. And that’s just one way. Of course, they have to come back to their homes, which means they have to go through it all over again. Each day. That means almost 100 hours per week spent being cautious about road dangers rather than spending their valuable time learning.
If it were for you to follow the same road, we bet you’d eventually get tired and probably call for a cab (just like us). Fortunately, we have this option. These kids don’t. So, in an attempt to let you experience just a small part of what happens during their daily adventure, creative agency David&Goliath together with non-profit organization Shine on Sierra Leone introduced the 9MileScroll, an interactive website that stretches for nine miles exactly.
The virtual journey begins in a small village, inviting you to scroll to ‘wake up’ the children and digitally follow them on their ‘morning walk.’ Each scroll equals a step, so more scrolls roughly translate as a few steps closer to the school. We tried for the first mile, but we got tired. And then we noticed that when you take a break, the small window that states how many miles you made so far transforms into an invitation to donate to the charity, so they can bring “education one step closer.” An entirely new school that’s meant to be built at mile four. Cutting the distance in half!
To help the NGO raise more funds to “decrease the distance between children and the education they deserve” and to further support the cause, the Los Angeles-based agency created a series of OOH posters and billboards. The initiative is also promoted via social media on Instagram, where nine influencers tagged each other consecutively in one of the nine miles of the kids’ experience.
Come on, give it a try… see how far you can make it before you get tired. It’s only your hand and eyes that will feel the fatigue, but that’s nothing compared to what kids living in this disadvantaged background experience day by day.
Credits:
Project: 9MileScroll
Agency: David&Goliath
Client: Shine on Sierra Leone
GIF: The FWA