Amazing Abbeyleix children Walk for Water
Pupils and teachers at Abbeyleix Library during the Scoil Mhuire Walk for Water. Photo: Alf Harvey
THE children of Scoil Mhuire, Abbeyleix were delighted to lead the community in the national event, Walk for Water on Friday 21 March. The event is a national Green Schools Initiative, celebrating World Water Day, organised to raise awareness of water scarcity around the globe.
The Green Schools Committee and the entire school community got behind the event to show solidarity with women and children of the world who walk on average six kilometres to access water, which in some cases is unsanitary.
Éadaoin Doherty, the Green School's facilitator in Scoil Mhuire, commented on how the event aligned not only with the Green Schools mission, but also with the ethos and root values of the school.
Scoil Mhuire prides itself on encouraging the children to become global citizens, promoting the core values of kindness and empathy. As a Catholic school, the event served as part of the School's Lenten campaign, underpinning the work of Trócaire and other organisations that provide life-saving interventions around the world.
The entire school community walked different distances, according to their class. The children from 4th, 5th and 6th class walked the full six kilometres, each carrying full water bottles on their backs to symbolise the hardship faced by women and children around the world. The adults all carried six litres of water.
The group set out from the school, marching behind the Green School’s Committee’s banner, to Fr Breen Park, where they completed a number of laps and from there carried on to the community allotments. There they were joined by local councillor John Joe Fennelley and Tidy Towns’ chair Mary White. The children were treated to a wonderful history lesson about the importance of the fountains of Abbeyleix to provide water for people and animals in the town.
Mary White explained how the Tidy Towns committee has placed QR codes around the town to provide further information about the local, historical landmarks of Abbeyleix, including the history of the town's water supply. The information at the site tells of the Wells of Abbeyleix, including the Five Wells on the de Vesci Estate, which was dug by the family to supply the estate and new town with clean, fresh water.
The children continued on to Abbeyleix Library, where the Green School’s Committee delivered their presentation to the local community and friends of Scoil Mhuire. Samantha McLeod, environmental officer with Laois County Council, praised the work of the committee and the wider school community.
As well as explaining the purpose of the walk, the Green School's Committee highlighted all of their activities and achievements to date, in raising awareness about the importance of water conservation for the future of the planet and for the future of humanity.
Their message on the importance of creating a circular economy, their project to harvest water in the school and their innovative and creative ideas around delivering the message of water conservation to the pupils of Scoil Mhuire were truly inspiring.
Hope for the future is bright, with strong leaders such as these children shining a light on the important issues facing the country and indeed the world.
