Students at St Joseph’s Catholic School in Pemberton put their collective efforts into fundraising for solar-powered water pumps during Lent, after being challenged by a Project Compassion video. 

The video provided an insight into the hardships faced by a 12 year-old girl in Zimbabwe, who walked kilometres each day to collect water for her family, affecting her ability to focus on schooling and her dreams of becoming a nurse.  

After learning about the challenges faced by many communities around the world in accessing clean drinking water, the students were inspired to focus their Project Compassion efforts on the issue through the St Joseph’s Water-Carrying Challenge. 

Students sought sponsorship for completing as many laps of the school oval as possible while carrying buckets of water, which raised funds while increasing their sense of empathy for those facing water access issues. 

Through the challenge students and staff raised more than $1100, a significant achievement for a school of 41 students, and a great start towards the school community’s goal of raising $4000 in 2019 to completely fund a water pump.  

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