Harvest 2019: Brighten Up assembly Primary

Themes: Brighten Up water, education, rights of the childMaterials Required: Brighten Up assembly PowerPoint, glass of water, 3-4 buckets or closed containers filled with some waterOptional: Fabiano’s film, Brighten Up promotional film Desired learner outcomes:

For pupils to understand that every child has the right to water and education For pupils to understand how CAFOD is working with communities around the world to support people in

poverty For pupils to see the relationship between taking action and supporting communities overseas

For teachers: You can order free Brighten Up posters, stickers and collection envelopes from shop.cafod.org.uk. If you are having a local food bank collection this Harvest, you could weave the Brighten Up message into your assembly, remembering local and global causes. Why not invite parents into your assembly too?

For volunteers: Remember to check with your schools whether they are planning to run this Harvest assembly themselves.

Slide 1Good morning/afternoon everyone! I’ve been rushing around/it’s really hot this morning, so I’m just going to have a drink of water. That’s better!

I’m really pleased to be here today to think about how we can make the world a brighter place.

Slide 2Who can remind me what CAFOD stands for? [Invite responses from the children.]

At CAFOD we believe in a better world, where no one lives in poverty and each of us can become the best person we can be. In a world without poverty, people have clean, safe water to drink and enough food to eat. Everyone has a safe home, children can go to school, and anyone who is sick can visit a doctor or nurse.

CAFOD works together with poor communities around the world to end poverty.

Slide 3Today I am here to talk to you about a very precious gift. It’s a life-giving gift that we often take for granted. Can anyone guess from this picture what I’m talking about? Everyone here is using this gift…[Click]And it’s here in this glass I've just drank from. Water! Water is such a precious gift. Without it there would be no life on

earth.

Slide 4Why is water so important? Can any anyone tell me some of the ways you have used water so far today?

[Invite responses from the children.][Click]

We’ve all used water at some point today already. It’s so easy to take water for granted. You just turn on the tap, and there is it. Within seconds our glass is filled, our thirst quenched, our face is clean and our toilet flushed. We use water for drinking, cleaning, washing, cooking. We depend on water for our vegetables to grow and our flowers to blossom, and the fish we eat live in water.

Water is life. Without it, none of us could survive.

Slide 5Having water is a right. Every child has the right to water

What is a right? [Invite responses from the children.]Rights are things that every child should have, or be able to do, to have the best start in life.

But not everyone has such easy access to water. Sometimes people have to travel far to collect water every single day.

Slide 6Today we are going to visit Uganda. Has anybody heard of this country? Is anyone here from Uganda, or have family in Uganda? Uganda is a very beautiful country with snow-capped mountains, and forests. It’s also home to elephants, rhinos, lions and gorillas!

In Uganda some people have to walk very long distances to get water because they don’t have taps in their homes. Slide 7Let’s meet Fabiano. Fabiano loves football (he’s an Arsenal fan) and playing cards. He really enjoys school and wants to be a doctor or a teacher when he grows up. Fabiano probably sounds a lot like some of you here today.

But Fabiano’s life used to be very different. There was something he had to do every single day just so he could do the simple things like wash and drink that you mentioned earlier.

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Slide 8[Optional film about Fabiano] Let’s watch this short film about Fabiano in Uganda.

Slide 9Fabiano used to spend hours every day collecting water from a well. He would walk there and back, 5km overall, and it would take him an hour. Sometimes he would make this journey three times a day.

That’s like walking from your school all the way to [give a local example] and back before school starts, and sometimes again after school. Every day.

[In the film you heard Fabiano say] He says:

“It would take me a long time to collect water each day. We would go there around 7am to get the water. By the time we got back we would have great problems going to school. It would be too much for us, or we would be too tired or too dirty.”

Slide 10But Fabiano loved school and he was determined to go after collecting water, even when he was tired. In fact, he never missed a day of school.

“I had to do this because we needed water. If I didn’t do it, we wouldn’t get water. I didn’t want to drop out from school because it had to be done, I also wanted to learn. It was so important.”

Millions of children around the world do miss out on school because they are collecting water. And it’s not fair. Every child has the right to water. And every child has the right to an education.

Slide 11[Invite children to come up to the front and to take buckets, bottles, or weighted items so that they can imagine what it is like to carry water like Fabiano.As you continue with the presentation, ask one or two pupils to walk around the assembly hall with the water buckets. After a minute or two, ask them how it feels.]

The buckets are heavy aren’t they? Fabiano told us:

“Some of the days I would feel pain. My legs would pain me to the extent that I would just carry it on my head.”

Imagine you were Fabiano. How different would your life be? You’d probably have to wake up much earlier, get dressed, and start walking with

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your empty buckets. Then you would have to carry the heavy buckets them all the way home, maybe on your head to balance, before washing, putting on your uniform and starting a day of learning at school. Then after school, you might have to go out in the dark to collect more water for the evening.

Slide 12 and 13Can anyone guess what this is? [Point to water pump in picture]

It’s a water pump tower. But this is a really special water tower. It’s a water pump that CAFOD installed right here in Fabiano’s village. It means that the whole community all have safe, clean water nearby whenever they need it. Fabiano and his friends no longer need to walk many miles every day and night to collect it.

The pump is powered by the sun’s rays. The solar panels pump water from a borehole underground, then the water is stored in the tank tower for everyone to use.

Slide 14

We asked Fabiano what the pump meant to him and his community. He told us:

“It means a lot. It means life.”

Having a pump in the village means it’s much easier to collect water for cooking and cleaning. It also means that the community can grow vegetables.

Fabiano has much more free time now. He is enjoying his studies, and he is also a Health Prefect at school, helping other people to understand how the water pump can help everyone stay clean and healthy.

I think he’s brilliant, and I'm so happy to share his story today.Fabiano told us that water means life. His life and his future are much brighter because of the solar water pump.

Slide 15Every child should be able to live life to the full. Evey child has the right to water. And every child has the right to go to school.

So this Harvest I’m here to ask if you could do something special. Just like the solar pump, I want you to Brighten Up to help build a brighter world for many more children like Fabiano.

Slide 16

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[Optional: Brighten Up promo film.]Here you can see just what a difference you can make if you Brighten Up.

Slide 17Whatever you decide to do to Brighten Up, from dressing brightly to selling bright cakes, your money will really help.

Slide 18 (optional)

Do you remember Rabiul in Bangladesh? We told you how all the fish in the river near his home had disappeared and that Rabiul and his family struggled to find food to eat.Well, lots of children all around England and Wales gave things up and fundraised to support Rabiul’s community during Lent this year.The fish still haven't come back, but thanks to the money that schools like yours raised, we are now working with Rabiul’s family on a new project to help the whole community find different ways to feed themselves.

So the money you raise really does change lives!

Slide 19I hope you enjoyed hearing Fabiano’s story today.Please remember Fabiano and his community in your prayers this Harvest. Let’s sit quietly for a minute before we say a prayer together.

Let us pray.

Loving God,We think of our neighbours, near and far, who live in poverty.We pray we may share generously all you have given us. Help us to work together to build a brighter world, where each of us can become the best person we can be. Amen

Slide 20Thank you so much for helping.

[Optional: I’ve left some Brighten Up stickers with your teacher. These are like magic buttons. When someone at home asks you what the sticker is for – tell them all about Brighten Up and what you are going to do to help build a brighter world!]

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