Students from St Mary’s Catholic High School, Menston, joined schools from across East and West Yorkshire to carry buckets of water from Leeds city centre to Kirkstall Abbey on Friday.

CAFOD’s WalkwithWater brought together over 100 students from eight schools who walked the two miles along the Leeds-Liverpool canal towpath.

The event was in solidarity with people in poorer communities in Africa who have to travel long distances in rough terrain to find water safe enough to drink.

By raising awareness through action, the pupils gave thought to their brothers and sisters in Africa who could be the same age but face this struggle daily.

Alice Clayton, 14, from St Mary’s, said: “This gives you a dose of reality as you realise just how much people in some communities would value this small amount of water.

“Experiencing this as a community and learning about other people has taught me not to take for granted what we have and emphasises the hardship some people face every day.”

Now in its fourth year, the WalkwithWater encourages the youngsters to consider others less fortunate when we turn on the tap.

After almost two hours of walking they said how difficult even a small amount of water was to carry.

Alice added: “Carrying water is really hard and I’m wondering how people in poorer countries manage to do it for miles every day, especially if they’re younger than me.”

When the group arrived at the abbey, they attended a liturgy focusing on sharing the world’s resources and digging deep to help others. They planted seeds in pots, watering them from the water they had carried, as part of CAFOD’s Lent campaign, Dig Deep.

CAFOD’s manager for West Yorkshire, Ben Oldham, said: “The helping hand passing the buckets around today is the same hand that reaches out to the people living in places like Sierra Leone, who face a difficult journey every day just to get water.

“The 120 schoolchildren sharing the burden of the buckets today are digging deep in solidarity from one community to another.”

Accompanying the students on their walk were teachers and CAFOD supporters including lay chaplain Julia Findlay, also from St Mary’s.

She said: “Today creates their awareness of their place in the world but also that of their brothers and sisters, meaning they can dig deep into their heart and soul and make changes for the better.”

Today 783 million people have no immediate access to clean water and the journey to fetch it prevents many women and girls from earning a living or going to school.

CAFOD is the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, working with communities across Africa, Asia and Latin America.