The gift of water

We join together today for World Water Day to recognise the importance of this essential resource and remember how many people are forced to go without.

The United Nations estimates that 1.1 billion people worldwide rely on unsafe drinking-water sources. Poor water conditions and limited access cause untold problems for an African family: disease; malnutrition; unsanitary conditions; and poor crop growth to name just a few. So it is no surprise that this year’s Water Day focuses on ‘Clean Water for a Healthy World’.

Send a Cow’s Programme Coordinator, David Bragg, recently met a group of women in Ethiopia who told him of their plight. Each day they would rise early and set out at 4am to collect water. Walking in darkness, they faced terrible danger and even attacks by hyenas. Upon reaching the spring, the queue was always well over one hour until they were able to fill their basic containers with a trickle of water.

Using money donated by you, Send a Cow has helped these women. We have shown them how to dig a collection pit to provide easy access to safe, clean water. Now their day can begin after sunrise, they can safely access clean water, and they have more time to spend doing vital work on their land.

The women have a much brighter future but there are still so many needing our assistance; struggling each day to find a few extra drops to allow their families to drink and to live healthy lives.

Please give what you can to our current appeal. Just £25 will allow us to train farmers in water harvesting techniques which will enable them to grow nutritious crops throughout the year. Or £10 will buy training for a family in ‘tip taps’ – a simple wooden structure which improves sanitation and stops the spread of life-threatening diseases.

Please help to save more lives by giving the gift of water on World Water Day.