Backgrounder
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.
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