Children in Ballarat take for granted the ability to turn on a tap and have clean water flow out, but the eyes of Emmaus Primary School pupils have been opened to the plight of those in developing countries where clean water is a luxury.
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Grade five and six pupils heard first hand from Zimbabwean Caritas coordinator Super Dube about the water challenges facing his country.
The country is in the grips of a devastating drought with many areas having little access to clean water even when it does rain.
As a child, Mr Dube was forced to drink contaminated water, suffered malaria, and walked 5km to and from school every day - something the Emmaus students took time to comprehend.
Mr Dube is touring Australia as part of Project Compassion, Caritas Australia's annual fundraising and awareness campaign during Lent.
"We normally send reports to Caritas Australia about the work we do but what I realise, when you come in person and share stories face-to-face with children, the feedback you get of how much they appreciate the gravity of the challenge we face back home is much more, as opposed to them reading a report," he said.
Mr Dube said most children assumed secure and clean water was only important for drinking, but it was so much more.
"Water is not just for drinking, but it is important in terms of other development initiatives ... it's about food security, sanitation and more."
About 600 million people across the globe lack access to clean water and 2.3 billion people have no basic sanitation, according to Caritas. And in Africa alone, a lack of water means women and girls need to collectively devote 40 billion hours a year to walking to collect water.
Friends Dana and Bessie said, after hearing Mr Dube's talk, they were going to start a campaign called Drink Bottle to somehow send clean water to Zimbabwe.
"I learned how much poverty there is in the country and how lucky we are to have what we have here," Bessie said.
World Water Day is on Friday.
"A lack of clean water disrupts the education of young people and robs communities of income and food, which is hard to comprehend - even in a country like ours which is feeling the burden of drought," said Caritas Australia spokesman Richard Landels.
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