This year again the Sunday school Project is going to be jars of water for jars of change and the children are inviting us all to join in, collect a label and fill a jar with money for WaterAid.
Sarah Knight is ordering the labels – jars should be brought back at Easter.
Some of the ways your money will be used.
WaterAid and its partners work with individuals and families in their communities and use a mixture of low-cost technologies to deliver lasting water, sanitation and hygiene solutions. We always use technologies that are low cost, appropriate to the local financial and geographical conditions and within the technical capacity of the benefiting community to operate and maintain. So that communities are responsible and feel a sense of ownership for their projects they must be involved in all stages of the work.
We aim to use technologies which include locally sourced materials and spare parts which can be easily purchased and transported.
In addition to this, our partners provide training to local communities so that they can carry out operation and maintenance work themselves.
This ensures that communities can sustain their projects after WaterAid ends its support, with possibilities to extend or replicate their projects in the future.
Statistics
x 1.1 billion people in the world do not have access to safe water, this is roughly one sixth of the world’s population.
x 2.6 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation, this is roughly two fifths of the world’s population.
x 1.8 million children die every year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. This amounts to around 5000 deaths a day. x Water-related disease is the second biggest killer of children worldwide, after acute respiratory infections like tuberculosis.x The weight of water that women in Africa and Asia carry on their heads is commonly 20kg, the same as the average UK airport luggage allowance.
WaterAid projects providing safe water, sanitation and hygiene education cost just £15 per head. (WaterAid)
The simple act of washing hands with soap and water can reduce diarrhoeal diseases by over 40%. (British Medical Journal)
The integrated approach of providing water, sanitation and hygiene reduces the number of deaths caused by diarrhoeal diseases by an average of 65%. (WHO) Water and sanitation infrastructure helps people take the first essential step out of the cycle of poverty and disease. In the UK the expansion of sanitation infrastructure in the 1880s contributed to a 15 year increase in life expectancy in the following four decades.
It’s not difficult to put your change in a jar, is it? Most of us do it anyway, for one cause or another. This Lent why not make that cause WaterAid?
Of course if you want more of a challenge you could join the WaterAid Munro challenge. A Munro? It’s any mountain in Scotland over 3,000 feet high and WaterAid aim to conquer the whole lot in one day – with your help. Details from www.wateraid.org.uk
WaterAid in Lent