By Tricia Mifsud
Students from Our Lady of the Way Primary School took part in a water walk challenge on Wednesday, raising money and awareness for the international water crisis.
The fundraiser was led by the grade five and six students who have been learning about Caritas Australia, an international organisation of the Catholic Church working with vulnerable communities to help achieve developmental goals.
The school’s senior students walked laps of the school oval for four hours, tallying more than 100 kilometres while carrying six to 10 litres of water.
Younger students also participated in walking some laps, carrying bottles of water.
Grade five and six level leader Mark van Zyl was pleased with the school’s efforts, which raised $648 for Caritas Australia.
“It was great to see the whole school community come together to support our fundraiser. The day not only brought the school together for the purpose of raising money, but it also helped educate the students on how millions of people each day go without fresh water,” he said.
“Our Lady of the Way is affiliated with Caritas each year. Caritas has a website that the school uses to support the students learning in the classroom with real stories of hardship.
“The students at our school really do show compassion and support for people in need and have always put in a lot of effort during our fundraisers. The school raised $648.80 today for Caritas and we thank everyone for their donations.”
Nearly 800 million people world-wide live without clean water. Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation kill more people each year than all forms of violence combined.
Caritas Australia is combatting the issue by educating vulnerable communities on how to be more sustainable and funding projects to build aqua ducts to pump water where it is needed.
To find out more about the work done by Caritas Australia, visit www.caritas.org.au.
