Strictly Come Dancing star Johannes Radebe has said he was "blown away" by an inspiring return to his home country of South Africa.
The professional dancer joined WaterAid for the trip, where he saw how clean water is changing lives for good, enabling people to stay healthy and live their dreams.
Johannes, who is currently touring the UK and Ireland with Kinky Boots, visited a community in the northern province of Limpopo, where less than one-third of people have piped water at home.
Johannes is now sharing the stories of those he met in support of WaterAid’s campaign, Water Can’t Wait, which is calling on governments attending COP30 to take urgent action to tackle the water and climate crisis.
Although Johannes had clean water at home when growing up in South Africa, his mother would fetch water for her family from a river when she was young. It’s a story he remembers well, but never explored the issue further, until now.
The people he met described what life was like without clean water and decent toilets and the difference made by having these essentials.
Johannes said: "I was honoured to visit WaterAid’s work in South Africa. I didn’t realise living without clean water close to home could steal so much time and opportunity from women and girls.
"My own mother had to fetch water when she was a child, and I am fortunate I didn’t have to experience that. I was blown away by seeing the difference having clean water and decent toilets has; it changes everything, from better health and education to helping people build a brighter future."
He added: "It isn’t right that one in ten people don’t have clean water close to home. It's a basic human right that everyone should have; it really does change lives. I am proud to be helping WaterAid raise awareness and bring these basic essentials to more people around the world."
Calfornia Ramathemela, a 38-year-old mother of four, told Johannes about her daily trips to a spring where she used to collect water. She said: I would wake up at midnight to queue for water and would queue maybe until 1pm the next day, so 13 hours. I would come back and then go back again, maybe five times to see where my bucket was in the queue.
"It was hard. I didn’t have time for the children; when I was thinking of the children, I was thinking of the water, and the water was not clean. Always, I was hearing someone was sick. There was no peace of mind.”
Calfornia explained that since getting clean water, with the help of WaterAid, people’s health has improved, and she and her family also have more time:
"Life has changed, there are no problems anymore. Children have time for homework, I now have time to wash the clothes, to wash myself and clean my children. We are very grateful for this water."
Johannes also visited a school during his trip, where students told him how they used to miss lessons because there weren’t enough toilets for all the students and they had to wait in long queues to use them. The toilets were also not fit for purpose, with broken doors, no running water or good hygiene facilities, causing high levels of sickness among students.
Student Ritshidze,16, told Johannes: "We only got 30 minutes for break, and we had to go to the toilet during break, so we had to eat for 15 minutes and then we would stand in the queue.
"And when you came back from the toilet, the teacher had started teaching. It was hard especially if you were on your period as some of the toilets didn’t have doors."
WaterAid worked with the school to install taps with clean water and new flushing toilets and teach better hygiene practices, and they no longer miss lessons.
Tshinyalani, 15, added: "It has been incredible! Our marks have massively increased; we are doing well."
The students inspired Johannes with their strength and ambition, and he told them about his own life; of how he grew up in a poor township, the struggles he faced and how he overcame them.
The school visit began and ended with dancing. The students taught Johannes some new moves to the popular South African song 'Biri Marung', making them all laugh at how quickly he learnt the steps/
Johannes first supported WaterAid last year when he delighted fans by wearing an outfit made of flowers to highlight the charity’s work during the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. After discovering more about WaterAid, Johannes asked to visit a project to see for himself the impact of the clean water projects has for communities.
One in ten people do not have clean water close to home, and climate is making this situation worse with floods contaminating water sources and droughts drying them up.
As part of WaterAid’s 'Water Can’t Wait' campaign, young climate activists from across the world have written an open letter demanding real change for the countries most affected by climate change, who have done the least to contribute to the crisis.
