CLEARWATER, Fla. — It’s something we all need to survive, but most of us take for granted. We’re talking about clean, fresh drinking water. Here in the United States, it’s readily available in all our homes and offices, but in Africa, hundreds of millions of people are living without it.
This weekend, students at Clearwater Central Catholic High School are holding their annual Walk 4 Water to raise money and awareness.
WATCH full story by Robert Boyd
Clearwater Central Catholic High School students Walk 4 Water
It’s all part of the CCC Water 4 Mercy Chapter. Since 2018, Water 4 Mercy, a non-profit organization based out of Clearwater, has provided water, food, and hope to close to 100,000 people living in the most remote areas of Africa.
On Saturday, March 28, Clearwater Central Catholic High School students will be simulating the conditions these villagers go through every day.
“In the poorest of the poor countries, women and children are walking up to six hours a day to get water from holes in the ground,” said student Isa Belongie. “So every year we try to simulate these conditions by putting on a Walk 4 Water where we encourage participants to take buckets full of sand or water and walk around our cross-country trail just to see how hard it can be to walk for maybe a mile, maybe more, for something so basic as water. It’s truly something we aren’t used to; we are very separated in the West.”
The school even recruited its strongest students, the football team, to try lifting these buckets.
“This is way more heavier than playing football. This is very difficult. I can’t do this,” said one player.
“We invite students from middle school, other grades, to come and just raise money, raise awareness for these problems,” said Isa.
“Let’s put ourselves in their shoes and think about what that would be like and maybe have that compassion to move you, to do something about it,” said Father Mark Baron, Director of The Association of Marian Helpers.
Father Mark traveled to Tanzania with CCC students in 2024 and saw firsthand the impact being made when enough money is raised to deliver clean, fresh drinking water to these villages.
“These wonderful students at Clearwater Central Catholic High School have taken to heart the great need there is in East Africa for clean drinking water, and they are doing something about it,” said Baron.
The Walk 4 Water takes place Saturday, March 28, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Clearwater Central Catholic football field.
For more information and to register, visit their website.
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