Whitworth students raise money for Water Aid charity

Water Aid fundraisers, from left, Harry Baron, Jordan Taylor-Carrington, Jon Buckley and Maisie Baglow

A geography lesson on the difficulties faced by people who don’t have access to clean water so moved students they are raising money to make a difference.

Year 9 students at Whitworth Community High School watched in horror as videos showed mothers and children walking six to eight miles to get water every day, only to fill their buckets with often dirty and bacteria-ridden water.

Maisie Baglow, Harry Baron, Jordan Taylor-Carrington and Jon Buckley were so shocked they persuaded their school to donate money raised on the school Christmas Jumper Day to WaterAid to help families access safe water.

Harry, 14, said: “Here we fill a glass full of water, sometimes only drink half and just throw it away. There are people in those countries that can only dream of being able to have a glass of clean water. We need to be grateful for what we have got.

“I am happy to do things to raise money if it is going to a good cause.”

As well as wearing Christmas jumpers, students sold Santa and Christmas turkey hats and raised nearly £330.

Jon, 12, said: “A lot of people are put at risk because of dirty water and children and young people are not getting the right amount of nourishment.

“There have been massive droughts across the world and these have affected countries where people already have little or no water anyway.

“The videos were harrowing and it was horrible to see a two-year-old who was not properly fed or nourished and didn’t have safe water to drink. They were riddled with disease and bacteria.

“It made us realise how lucky we are. We are privileged that we have safe drinking water just by turning on a tap.”

Maisie added: “They have to walk miles and they don’t know if there is going to be any water at the end of it.”

WaterAid UK is an international organisation and, since it was set up in 1981, it has provided assistance in 28 countries, clean water and toilets to 28 million people and improved the hygiene of 26 million people.

For more information visit www.wateraid.org/uk