Last month the students of Brackendale Elementary School spent part of a day carrying heavy containers of water to various locations outside the school to give the youngsters an idea what it might be like to heft water several kilometres each way on a daily basis as a means of survival.
It's no simulation for the 200-or-so residents of the village of Kondedu, India, who have to walk four kilometres each way to access their nearest source of fresh, safe water. That situation should soon be rectified, thanks to the efforts of the youngsters in Brackendale.
The recent "Walk for Water" was one of a number of exercises in an initiative that started last fall and culminated on Monday (June 13), when Principal Paul Lorette and three students - Genevieve Wick and Paul Van Tassel (Grade 6) and Taylan Savjord (Grade 5) - delivered a total of $1,140 in pennies and silver coins to the local branch of Scotiabank.
The money represented the proceeds of a Christmas card sale last fall ($150) and a recent Penny Challenge that saw the school's various "family groups" of students compete to see which could bring in the largest number of pennies for the benefit of the school's chosen village.
Seven-hundred fifty dollars of that money is all that's needed to build a new well for the residents of Kondedu through the Quebec-based relief organization SOPAR. The remainder will go into an account that will be used for the school's chosen charity for the 2011-'12 school year.
Each school year, students and staff choose a similar project to take part in during their family groups gatherings, an initiative to build community and school unity among the various grades. Last year Brackendale students contributed money to buy school supplies for disadvantaged youngsters in Africa.
Van Tassel, speaking of the $440 in additional money the school raised this year, said "We have a big head start on next year."
After the Penny Challenge, Savjord said the students spent part of their afternoons for two weeks counting and rolling the coins.
This year's project, the brainchild of Grade 5-6 teacher Mrs. Wick -Genevieve's mother - has helped the students gain a greater appreciation of the struggles faced by communities in other parts of the world, Lorette said.
"It was a neat project. The kids learned a lot about how fortunate we are to have what we have," he said.
The youngsters said they had fun taking part in each step of the journey. They said the Walk for Water really illustrated the hardships faced by those in less developed countries.
"It was hard not to spill them on yourself. A lot of people got wet," said Genevieve Wick, who added that when carrying containers up high, "It's hard not to spill water on your head."
Added Van Tassel, "That was just to show you what the people in the village had to do every day."
