The Social Justice Team at St. Marie of the Incarnation Catholic School has been learning about something that most Canadians take for granted: access to clean water.
They learned that 1.6 billion people around the globe don’t have access to clean, potable water.
That in many areas, it is the job of women and children to walk to the nearest source, and bring back enough water for their families on a daily basis.
And that the walk for water can take hours, through often gruelling and difficult conditions, including the threat of violence.
“Our hope is that the students will recognize the struggle, and the fact that 260 million girls walk up to five hours a day getting their family water, which is filthy and contaminated and will make them sick, but they have no choice,” said Michelle Raftis, Grade 5 teacher and a leader of the Social Justice Team.
The issue will be the focus of the Bradford West Gwillimbury school’s Social Justice Walk on May 17, and students are being asked to donate $2 each to participate in the Walk for Clean Water.
“We hope to raise $1,000,” said Raftis – the amount needed to provide a community in Kenya with a clean water source, through Me to We’s WE Charity.
To promote the fundraiser and the walk, 10 students in Grades 7 and 8, including members of the Social Justice Team and volunteers, did their own Water Walk on Tuesday.
They took turns carrying five large bottles of water from the school up Colborne Street. The goal was to walk to Lions Park, before turning around and returning to St. Marie, where they would be greeted by every class and clapped through the halls.
The bottles each contained about 20 litres of water.
“We want them to feel it,” said Raftis, to get a sense of the struggle that millions of people face each day.
The students didn’t make it all the way to the park. Even sharing the burden, they had to turn back before reaching the top of the hill, walking less than a kilometre.
“It was hard,” said a student.
“It’s crazy to imagine that they have to do it every day,” agreed a friend.
“We want people to understand how privileged we are to turn on a tap and have clean water,” said another.
The Social Justice Team has addressed other key issues and causes, said Raftis, but “this is the first global one that we’ve done.” Fundraising at the school will continue until May 17.
