Water is essential to life, but for nearly a billion people access to clean freshwater is limited or non-existent.
According to a February 2018 World Health Organization report (using 2015 global data), 71 percent of the global population (5.2 billion people) used a drinking-water service located on premises, available when needed, and free from contamination. An additional 18 percent of people had access to an improved water source located within a 30-minute round trip from their home, although this water was not necessarily free from contamination. However, an estimated 844 million people lacked even a basic drinking-water service – including 159 million people forced to access untreated surface water (such as rivers, streams and lakes) and 423 million people who had to obtain water from unprotected wells and springs.
Lack of access to clean freshwater leads to hundreds of thousands of deaths annually from waterborne illnesses, and countless millions of people spending days and weeks in agony fighting such illnesses.
Highlighting this problem is the intent of “World Water Day.” World Water Day has been internationally observed since 1993, with March 22 being the day officially assigned by the United Nations General Assembly for this observance.
Pope Francis has used this annual observance to join with other global leaders in calling for a world where all people have access to clean water for drinking, cooking and hygienic purposes, and enjoining the international community of nations to respect and promote access to clean water as an essential and fundamental human right.
This right has been espoused in Catholic social teaching, summarized as: “The right to water, as all human rights, finds its basis in human dignity and not in any kind of merely quantitative assessment that considers water as a merely economic good. Without water, life is threatened. Therefore, the right to safe drinking water is a universal and inalienable right” (excerpted from “The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church,” Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, 2004).
The varied themes of World Water Day each year guide nations and humanitarian agencies as they highlight the challenges faced by many around the earth to obtain clean freshwater and work for greater sustainable management of limited freshwater resources.
This year’s theme is “Leaving no one behind,” which echoes the Church’s “preferential option for the poor” as it calls upon the global community to consider people who have been marginalized and have restricted or no access to clean water. Women, children, older adults and those with disabilities often find their needs come last when the scramble for limited clean water pushes people to the periphery. For many people, access to clean water is denied because of discrimination, war and forced displacement or confinement.
In his message for this year’s World Water Day, Pope Francis reflected on the concern of those “left behind” in the access to clean water: “Water is an essential good for the balance of ecosystems and human survival, and it is necessary to manage it and take care of it so that it is not contaminated or lost. It may be seen in our days how the aridity of the planet is extending to new regions, and more and more are suffering as a result of the lack of water sources suitable for consumption. For this reason, ‘leaving no one behind’ means committing ourselves to putting an end to this injustice. Access to this good is a fundamental human right, which must be respected, because the life of the people and their dignity are at stake.”
His message continued: “Leaving no one behind also means being aware of the need to respond with concrete facts; not only with the maintenance or improvement of water structures, but also by investing in the future, educating new generations in the use and care of water. This task of raising awareness is a priority in a world in which everything is discarded and disdained, and which in many cases does not appreciate the importance of the resources we have at our disposal.”
Get involved
Two boys drink clean water made possible by a CRS project. After massive flooding destroyed water systems throughout northern Pakistan, CRS helped villagers construct or repair thousands of meters of pipeline.Catholics are able to join in supporting the yearly observance of World Water Day through their support of Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. Catholic community’s humanitarian relief and development agency sponsored by the U.S. bishops.
CRS serves vulnerable people oversees by developing and improving sources of clean water for drinking. cooking, washing, caring for livestock and irrigation.
In 2018, 7.2 million people benefited thanks to clean water and sanitation projects organized through CRS. CRS is also one of many humanitarian agencies calling for “a water secure world for all” by 2030.
Earlier this month, Thomas Awiapo, a CRS employee from Ghana, visited several schools in the Diocese of Charlotte and spoke of his childhood living in poverty, a childhood in which he was always close to starvation. He recounted how he had no choice but to drink from a nearby river. There he would see animals in the water, and though the river made people sick (and “some died from their sickness,” he lamented), there was no other choice. “I was thirsty,” Awiapo said.
With nutrition and education provided through CRS Rice Bowl-funded programs, Awiapo was raised out of destitution to eventually work for CRS. He now travels around the U.S. to express his gratitude to Catholics in America and share how Rice Bowl helps provide food and clean drinking water to vulnerable communities around the world.
— Joseph Purello, Special to the Catholic News Herald. Joseph Purello is director of Catholic Charities’ Office of Social Concerns and Advocacy and diocesan director for CRS.
Pictured: Women collect water from a river in Terakeka, Sudan. Villagers drink water from the river, which often results in stomach ailments and causes them to urinate blood. CRS constructed a borehole that provided enough fresh water for 500 families, or 2,500 people, for up to 50 years. In total, CRS will build 15 boreholes and repair another five in Terakeka. CRS will also train community members in hygiene promotion and water pump repair. (Photos provided by Catholic Relief Services)
In El Salvador, this rain trap was used to collect water that can be used to water crops.
CHARLOTTE — Catholic Relief Services saved Thomas Awiapo from starvation. Once a poor orphan growing up in rural Ghana, now he travels around the United States every year during Lent sharing his story and thanking CRS supporters for the gift of a hot meal and schooling that they provide through the CRS Rice Bowl campaign.
“I come here to share my story continuously because it touches minds and hearts in a way that moves people to act,” Awiapo explains. “It gives me the opportunity to put a face on the work of CRS around the world and to look people in the face to say thank you for their prayers and support.”
Awiapo visited Bishop McGuinness High School in Kernersville on Ash Wednesday, March 6. He attended Mass with the students and staff then gave a presentation to the whole school. He then traveled to Immaculate Heart of Mary School in High Point to share his message with them. He also visited St. Matthew School in Charlotte and the Diocese of Charlotte Pastoral Center on March 7.
“My story helps many Americans to appreciate the blessings in their lives and the call to share those blessings,” Awiapo says.
Awiapo and his three brothers were orphaned when he was just 10 years old.
“We cried for food, we went to bed hungry… Only sometimes at night we had a little dinner to share with all four of us.” He said that the amount of food for dinner was so little that they sat in a circle looking at it, thinking about how little amount of food it was.
“We would look at it and cry,” Awiapo says.
His two youngest brothers died of malnutrition – the youngest dying in his arms. “He was so skinny and bony. That has never left my mind,” he says.
His oldest brother fled, leaving him alone. He scrounged for food alone, doing odd jobs.
One day he smelled food being cooked at CRS’ St. Francis Xavier School in his village. The hot lunches and daily snacks were enough to attract him to attend school. He went on to graduate and earn scholarships to attend college in the United States.
“I was caught, joyfully caught, and I am glad that they did catch me. I am sitting here today with a master’s in public administration. The whole credit goes to Catholic Relief Services,” he notes.
Awiapo now works with CRS Ghana, teaching communities the value of good governance and the value of education. He often returns to his old school, which has been completely refurbished thanks to CRS.
He says that “the little snack” that CRS provided “tricked him into going to school” – and “this trick saved my life.”
Catholic support for CRS, he says, “is just part of living our faith, creating a just world, changing lives of individuals, families and communities through our prayers and contributions. CRS offers Catholics the opportunity to live their faith in solidarity with the poor.”
“It was wonderful to begin Lent this year listening to presentations by Thomas Awiapo,” says Joseph Purello, Catholic Charities’ director of social concerns and advocacy. “His story begins with one of survival in the face of misery and hardship, yet it becomes a compelling message of hope, faith, and gratitude that challenges his audience to encounter Christ at home in our families, and in each member of the whole human family.
“Almost 800 students in three of our diocesan schools heard his message of how Catholic Relief Services provided life-saving assistance, and how he now is able to do the same for children in Ghana. What a powerful witness to the Church’s ministry of caritas!”
To learn about CRS Rice Bowl and donate this Lent, go to www.crsricebowl.org.
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter. Catholic Relief Services contributed.