Liquid Treasure


Thirsty? Help yourself to a drink of water. Cool, fresh, clean water. Liquid gold Life-giving, healing, cleansing, refreshing, cooling water. How many of us have heard that it is just plain common sense to drink at least eight glasses of water a day.

Australia is a lucky country. Even though parts of Australia are suffering from the devastating effects of drought, it is highly unlikely that anyone will die of thirst. Most Australians, even in times of drought, are able to get a drink of clean water.

This is not so for over one billion people who do not have access to clean water. Their water does not come from a tap, nor is it clean. Their lives are marked by a daily struggle to get enough water just to survive.

Some people spend hours each day walking to and from a local spring, carrying buckets of water for their family to use for drinking and washing and cleaning and cooking. Very often there is no water for toilet systems.

Others must drink water that is murky or poisoned by contaminants in the earth. This is the case for the people of many parts of Bangladesh. Their water contains arsenic, a poison which makes them very ill. Yet they have no choice. They must drink this water, knowing they will get sick, or die of dehydration. The choices they make each day are terrifying.

Lack of water or contaminated water is the largest cause of death in the world. A report from WaterAid says that nearly 6000 children die every day from conditions like diarrhoea because they have nowhere safe to go to the toilet and they lack clean water. As the world's population grows and demand for water increases, the UN predicts that two out of three people will be living with water shortages by 2025. http://www.watermatters.org.uk

The people of drought-stricken Australia share a common experience with the people of Afghanistan. Vast regions of Afghanistan, too, are suffering from drought. As in Australia, the fields are lifeless and can no longer support crops or animals. However, there the similarity ends.

There is little support for the people of war-torn Afghanistan from their new Government. It is just too poor. Thousands of people were forced to leave their land. There was no water to give to their animals, no water to irrigate their crops and there was no water to drink.

Sher Mohammed is one farmer who stayed. Sher Mohammed lives just south of Kabul with his wife and twelve children. His family has lived here for many generations. He was preparing to take his family to live in a refugee camp when his village received help from CAFOD. CAFOD helped Sher Mohammed and his family to rebuild the traditional water channels and wells that feed water to the parched land.

Without water we die. Sher Mohammad knows this. He looks at the new water channels in his village and he says: "This is for my sons. I have six sons. May they never again live without water. We don't want to leave our villages we are poor but hard working. Insh'allah God willing we can stay and build up our lives again. Our village was dying, but now we have water, we are born again."


STUDENT ACTIVITIES

1. Sher Mohammed's story and pictures can be found at the CAFOD website: http://www.cafod.org.uk/donate/afghanistan20020315.shtml

2. Collect newspaper articles on drought in Australia and in other countries of the world. Discuss the effects of drought on people's lives. Are there any similarities? What are the differences?

3. a) Make a list of words which can be used to describe water- think of what it looks like, what it feels like, what it tastes like, what it can do, what it symbolises? Include onomatopoeic words such as 'gurgle' and 'splash'. Now do the same for an opposite, such as 'desert'.

3. Write a haiku on one of these: water/ rainfall/ desert/ drought. Illustrate your poem with appropriate pictures.

4. Do some research:

I. How much of the human body is made of water?

II. How long can a human being survive without water?

III. How much water is used in the average shower?

IV. How much water is used in the average bath?

V. How many people in your class leave the tap running when they brush their teeth?

VI. How much of the planet is water?

VII. Where is the largest body of water in the world?

VIII. Where are the biggest rivers in the world?

5. Read about Sister Suzanne Golas who has dedicated her life to water. Why would she do this? You will find the answer here: http://www.dioceseoftrenton.org/news/display_news2.cfm?newsid=558

6. Parts of Australia are now declared official drought areas. Find out where these areas are (read the newspapers, watch the television news). What help is being given to the people whose lives are directly affected by drought?

7. Force Ten http://www.forceten.org.au/march2002/march024.html tells us that in Australia, we consume about 500 litres of water per person daily in contrast, each person in Kiribati has less than 40 litres a day to meet their bathing, cooking and drinking needs, one eighth of what we use. Decide how you would use 40 litres of water each day. Remember: showers, baths, toilet, cooking, washing clothes, as well as drinking?

8. Go to the Caritas website and write a recount of the story of the women of Nyeri, a small town in Kenya who overcame their shortage of water in a unique way. With some help from Australia. http://www.caritas.org.au/ourwork/where_kenya.htm

9. For a picture of Sher?s water channels in Afghanistan http://www.cafod.org.uk/donate/afghanistan20020315.shtml

10. Describe a day without water. In your class, make a list of ideas about how Australians might treasure water better. Hold a school assembly on WATER and how you might treasure water in the school.

9 Oct 2002