Autumn/Winter 2012
Your WaterAid magazine
Nepal update Your support is already changing lives
Water Works!
Your campaigning took Washington DC by storm
The Big Dig
Live from Malawi – your money changing lives
Welcome to Oasis
Dear WaterAid supporter, WaterAid/Abir Abdullah
This edition is all about making a difference. Your campaigning this year did just that: the UK Government promised to double the numbers of people it will reach with safe water and sanitation! And this summer communities in Malawi are blogging – live – with photos and films to show how your support is transforming their lives. See what’s happening right now at thebigdig.org
Barbara Frost Chief Executive
Edited by Tom Burgess Designed by Progression (progressiondesign.co.uk)
WaterAid transforms lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in the world’s poorest communities. WaterAid 47-49 Durham Street London, SE11 5JD T: 020 7793 4594 Registered charity numbers 288701 (England and Wales) and SC039479 (Scotland) Cover image: The Statue of Liberty joins the cause! This picture was created to grab attention online and in the media. Find out more on page 4. (WaterAid/Cameron Davidson/Corbis) 2
Oasis Autumn/Winter 2012
Save paper, save money Each copy of Oasis costs 11p to produce plus P&P. Sign up to get Oasis by email at supportercare @wateraid.org
For news, films and to have your say, find us on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. WaterAid/Lotte Ljungberg
Mali unrest
F
Amadou Haidera, seven, waits in line at the water station during a water cut, Bamako, Mali (March 2011)
ierce fighting and political unrest has displaced over 15,000 people in recent months. Conditions in makeshift camps are likely to deteriorate in the rainy season, leading to an increase in diarrhoeal diseases. Where your WaterAid has been money goes helping distribute In every £1, we spend safe water, 23p on fundraising and hygiene and governance, and 77p on sanitation kits to delivering services and those affected. influencing decisionmakers.
WaterAid
Chelsea Flower Show
WaterAid’s garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show
R
ingo Starr officially opened our garden at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The garden was sponsored by international law firm Herbert Smith, and went on to win the silver award. Celebrities such as Ricky Gervais and John Hurt had a go on the handpump, adding some stardust to our simple technology!
Contents
4 Water Works campaign success 8 The Big Dig 10 Special update: Nepal 12 HSBC Water Programme 14 Meet The Big Dig community from Malawi 16 Technology: Borehole drilling rig 18 Get involved
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Campaigns
Water Works campaign: What a result! In April, we took our global Water Works campaign to the Sanitation and Water for All High Level Meeting in Washington DC. Our Chief Executive Barbara Frost reflects on the extraordinary outcomes from the meeting. people it reaches with safe water and sanitation to 60 million by 2015. The UK commitment is one part of the huge global movement to invest in water and sanitation for all. This incredible result simply wouldn’t have happened without your support. Turn over to read more.
WaterAid/Dermot Tatlow/Panos Pictures
“
“I
am so excited by the commitments made in Washington and the determination of world leaders to take action to end the water and sanitation crisis. People really want to create change and I am delighted that the UK Government is leading the way, pledging to double the number of
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Oasis Autumn/Winter 2012
← Meeting US Aid Administrator Rav Shah (second left) with my WaterAid colleagues. We received support from across the globe – including the Statue of Liberty! →
The UK Government has pledged to double the number of people it reaches with safe water and sanitation to 60 million by 2015. Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell outlined the UK Government’s commitment in a letter to MPs.
WaterAid/Cameron Davidson/Corbis
We intend to double the commitment on water and sanitation that we made last year.
Many of us have been contacted by our constituents on this important issue
...over the lifetime of this Parliament we will reach more than 60 million people...
Your reaction “A truly wonderful result and let’s now hope for the action as soon as possible. It’s time we all realised that provision of safe water and sanitation is absolutely vital to lifting people out of poverty.” Gwen
Turn over to read more → Oasis Autumn/Winter 2012
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Campaigns
Water Works campaign: Your support made the difference
Your response to our call to action in the last issue of Oasis was incredible. Almost 10,000 of you sent in postcards, each with your own version of our very simple
← Handing over your photos and messages to Andrew Mitchell before the meeting.
WaterAid/Dermot Tatlow/Panos Pictures
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message: Water Works. I know that your actions – together with those from supporters across the world – inspired the Secretary of State and other key decision-makers to commit to change. Our next step is to ensure world leaders keep to the promises made at the meeting. There’s a long road ahead but, by continuing to support our campaign work, you can make sure that these commitments turn into decisive action. Let me say a huge thank you once again from me and all the team.
Our Campaigns Team take your messages to the Department for International Development. → Oasis Autumn/Winter 2012
“
“T
hanks to the thousands of you who contacted your MPs on World Toilet Day in November, Andrew Mitchell, the Secretary of State for International Development, was encouraged to attend the meeting in Washington and make the UK’s pledge.
For an exclusive interview with Secretary of State Andrew Mitchell, and videos and blogs from the meeting visit www.wateraid.org/waterworks
How you inspired world leaders: Online actions
Photo messages
Postcard messages
“It’s time for our governments to make taps and toilets an urgent priority. They are cheap, effective and simple – and they save innocent lives.” Raymond
“You have the power to transform the lives of millions of vulnerable people. Please do so.” Loraine
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WaterAid/Melissa WaterAid/Tom VanLeon Cakenberghe
The Big Dig Appeal
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Join us at thebigdig.org and see the work happening live. Angharad McKenzie, from WaterAid’s fundraising team, discusses the life-changing work you are making possible in Malawi.
“O
n my first visit to Malawi in understand the incredible difference April this year, I asked Howard your gifts make. If you’ve already visited (pictured) what his ambitions thebigdig.org I’m sure you’ll agree for the future were. When I asked this the transformation is just amazing. question he looked puzzled and took Now dotted across the villages are some time to respond. bright yellow ‘tippy-tap’ hand-washing Thinking about your future in a place facilities, racks to keep cooking utensils like Bokola wasn’t something people clean, and hygiene messages painted really did. As in so many other poor on walls. communities across Malawi, life is Today, every family has a latrine, generally all about the here and now. preventing waste from contaminating I could see right away what an water sources, and so helping to stop incredible difference hygiene education, the spread of deadly diseases. There is decent sanitation and safe water privacy and dignity now, and because would make to every individual in this the toilets are composting latrines, they community. So when WaterAid launched have free fertiliser too! The Big Dig Appeal in June, After a summer of hard work, The Big aiming to reach 134,000 Dig is entering its final phase. people across Malawi, Very soon, water will come we decided to follow gushing from the ground in See how we dig the story of Howard’s boreholes on page 16 Bokola and Kaniche and village, Bokola, and I hope you will join us at and meet more people neighbouring Kaniche thebigdig.org as we from Bokola and on thebigdig.org bring these communities Kaniche on page 14 It’s so important that safe, clean water for the you, our supporters, first time.
“
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Special update: Nepal
Change gains a foothold Following our report in the last edition of Oasis, life for families is suddenly beginning to change in the mountainous district of Sindhuli, Nepal, thanks to your support. Meriel Armson, our Special Projects Manager, shares some of the incredible progress being made.
“J
it Bahadur Shrestha is a father of five. It was clear that life was incredibly tough for his family, and their water source was the worst we saw earlier this year. Personally I found Jit’s story heartbreaking – here was a desperately poor man who was facing a horrendous daily struggle to care for his family. The wonderful news is that gravity flow systems have been constructed in Jit’s village, piping safe, clean water straight from its source to a series of tapstands. Dangerous journeys to collect dirty water from the nearest stream are now a thing of the past. Jit told our team: “Now we have
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access to clean drinking water and have learned to live a healthy life. The improved situation has enhanced our confidence and now we are sure not to lose our children as we had lost our parents. Now my children shall never fall sick due to waterborne diseases.” In fact, every single person in Jit’s region now has clean water and a proper toilet – that’s 3,185 people who can now embrace the future with new hope. This is only the second region in the whole of Nepal to achieve 100% water and sanitation coverage – an achievement our team in Nepal are very proud of, and one which simply wouldn’t have been possible without your support.
“Every single person in Jit’s region now has clean water and a proper toilet – that’s 3,185 people who can now embrace the future with new hope.” And once the rainy season is over in October, construction will start on gravity flow systems, bringing villagers clean, safe water for the first time in their lives.
“
All funds raised from the recent WaterAid200 Mountain Challenge will support projects in Nepal.
WaterAid/Tom Van Cakenberghe
I’m also delighted to report that thanks to your kindness, project work is now well underway in neighbouring Tosramkhola. Huge steps have already been made to improve sanitation, with every household building a latrine.
Jit’s oldest daughter Sarita (pictured) describes the impact the project has had on their lives:
“Before, we used to be absent for several days in school due to sickness. But now we are regular in school and able to read properly, thus improving our education.” Oasis Autumn/Winter 2012 11
HSBC Water Programme
Investing in lives and livelihoods
With HSBC’s support, WaterAid will reach 1.1 million people with safe water and 1.9 million people with sanitation and hygiene.
“Speaking to the community they aren’t feeling a shortage anymore,” says Naina Lal Kidwai, Country Head of HSBC in India, as she visits a WaterAid project in Dalit Eka in central Delhi. “They’re careful with the water. A family might need five, six buckets at a minimum, and they’re getting that.”
T
he transformation of the neighbourhood is remarkable. Before, the 3,600 residents had to fight over the one tanker of water that arrived each day. Now, after working closely with the community and Delhi’s water board, our local partner has rehabilitated the community borehole well, built an overhead storage tank and piped water system, with taps every 50 metres throughout the settlement. Sewer lines, drains and household toilets have also been constructed. Inspired by the transformation in poor communities like Dalit Eka, HSBC launched a new Water Programme in
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June this year, investing $25 million in WaterAid over the next five years to support our vital safe water, sanitation and hygiene projects. The programme will fund our work across South Asia in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal, and in West Africa in Ghana and Nigeria. With HSBC’s support, WaterAid will reach an amazing 1.1 million people with safe water and 1.9 million people with sanitation and hygiene. HSBC is also supporting the work of WWF and Earthwatch to ensure that key river basins are managed properly and vital ecosystems are protected. We are
WaterAid/GMB Akash/Panos Pictures
To find out more about the HSBC Water Programme, and watch the film of Naina Lal Kidwai’s visit to Dalit Eka with WaterAid, go to www.thewaterhub.org/wateraid With HSBC’s support, WaterAid will work in six tea garden areas in Sylhet, Bangladesh. Monica Nayak (centre), a tea picker in Burjan Tea Garden, now has access to safe water and promotes hygiene education in her community. She says: “Clean water means life will be happier for our child and for me and for our community. I see my child is much happier and I hope this will grow day by day. Water is our life; it is very, very important for us.”
“HSBC’s support to WaterAid is going to be vital to ensuring that the good work that WaterAid does continues,” Naina adds. “It is the only way that poor people can come out of poverty; without water they can’t even begin to think about the other aspects of life: about employment, about sending their children to school, about hygiene and health. All of that becomes important as they look to advance and build their way out of poverty.”
Naina in Dalit Eka making a film of her experiences – available at the link above. Oasis Autumn/Winter 2012 13
WaterAid/GMB Akash/Panos Pictures
working together because we know that water is vital to building healthy communities and developing national economies.
The Big Dig Appeal: Meet the people 1
Let us introduce you to some of the 134,000 people across Malawi whose lives you’re helping to change forever through The Big Dig. 1 Grace Rabson is 62. Dysentery has made her very frail. She makes the hazardous journey to the scoop hole on her own every single day. “I know this water is not safe, but we have no option.”
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2 Mr Khombe was the first to build a new latrine using the method shown to him by WaterAid. “I am a proud member of Kaniche village. I will do what I can to ensure this village is safe from disease.”
See how Grace, Mr Khombe and Janet’s lives are changing every day – go to thebigdig.org
Photos: WaterAid/Kate Holt
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3 Janet’s four year old son died last year of cholera. “If we had clean water that would change the lives of my children. There would be no more dying of these diseases.”
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Technology
Borehole drilling rig I n areas where there is very hard rock or water needs to be collected from a greater depth, our partners use technologies such as boreholes. Hydraulic pumps and rock drills are used to cut through the earth to depths of 100m or more.
WaterAid/Layton Thompson
Water is pumped to the surface either by hand or, where there is a high demand, using diesel or electric engines. The water is usually stored in large tanks before being piped to tapstands in surrounding villages.
A hydraulic pump powers the drill’s rotary mechanism.
Compressed air drives the ‘down-the-hole-hammer’ to pulverise the rock. Dust and cuttings are flushed out of the borehole by compressed air. The drill rotates at 1030rpm to ensure that the borehole is straight.
“We used to draw water from the Mdwere River. When we drank the water we had stomach problems like diarrhoea, especially during the rainy season. When the clean water was switched on we were very happy and amazed that our problems were solved! Everyone in the village uses the borehole and water is available throughout the year.” Rose Mwale carries water from a handpump fitted to a borehole well, Salima District, Malawi.
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To download free posters of the technologies we use, go to www.wateraid.org/technology
ÂŁ88
could pay to dig and lay a kilometre of pipes. Go to www.wateraid.org/ donate
Illustration by peter-mac.com
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Get involved
Choose Belu water Speak out! Next time you are buying bottled water choose Belu and transform lives – the UK’s most ethical water brand is giving every penny of its profits to WaterAid! An environmentally friendly choice, Belu is the UK’s first carbon neutral bottled water brand, refusing to import materials or export its bottles. Belu water is available in a recycled glass bottle in restaurants and cafés including Zizzi, Café Rouge, Strada, Las Iguanas, Hard Rock Café and Leon, and can also be bought in Sainsbury’s in an innovative recycled plastic bottle. Belu has already raised almost £200,000 for WaterAid through sales of its water, which will help us reach around 13,000 people with safe water, improved hygiene and sanitation! So, if you’re buying bottled water, choose Belu. And remember, 100% of the profits go to WaterAid! www.belu.org 18 Oasis Autumn/Winter 2012
Join our network of inspiring volunteer speakers and help change minds and transform lives! Email: speakers@ wateraid.org Call: 020 7793 4988
Christmas cards
Support WaterAid this Christmas with our range of cards available at Waterstones, Paperchase, selected branches of Waitrose, John Lewis, Cards Galore and WHSmith, or at www.amazon.co.uk
Samantha Cook
We need you! Come along and help at WaterAid events! We are always looking for volunteers to cheer on and support our teams. Call 020 7793 2232 or email events@wateraid.org for information.
15 September
Coast Along for WaterAid
Get your school or youth group involved in WaterAid’s Big Collection and learn about children in Rwanda – see enclosed leaflet. Call: 020 7793 2232 Email: bigcollection@ wateraid.org Visit: www.wateraid. org/thebigcollection
Join one of our coastal path group walks and raise vital funds for Malawi. Email: coastalong@wateraid.org
17 February/14 April
Brighton Half Marathon/Marathon
Get some sea air and blow away the post-Christmas blues with the Brighton Half Marathon. Or for a more challenging run take on the full 26 Thank you miles and 385 yards in April. Whitbread! Email: events@wateraid.org Since June 2009 Call: 020 7793 2232 Whitbread employees have raised £1.35 million for our work in India. 27 May 21 April Thank you so much for your amazing support! Join us for a running tour of London that takes in Westminster Abbey, the Join our team for the Houses of Parliament, Big greatest marathon in the Ben and the London Eye. world and we’ll support you every step of the way. Email: events@ wateraid.org Email: events@wateraid.org Call: 020 7793 2232 Call: 020 7793 2232
Virgin London Marathon
Toby Roberts
BUPA 10,000
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Grace
Mary
Awena
Meet the community Here are a few of the people in rural Malawi whose lives you can change by joining The Big Dig.
Howard
Janet
Watch amazing things happen at thebigdig.org
Dave
Rolena
Lameke
All images WaterAid/Kate Holt