Oasis Autumn Winter 2011 (1)

The WaterAid Journal Autumn/Winter 2011

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LiberiaStories and photos from one

of our newest countries

PakistanHow your support is rebuilding

lives after the floods

Tweet all about it

WaterAid’s 24-hour global tweetathon!

Welcome to the Autumn/Winter 2011 edition of Oasis. I should also say happy birthday as WaterAid is now 30 years old. With your support we have achieved so much together since 1981 and this magazine is full of stories of how you continue to help transform lives.

On page eight you will see how your generous gifts to our Pakistan emergency appeal have helped over 266,000 people one year after the floods devastated whole swathes of the country.

On pages 14 to 18 we bring you news from Liberia where we have recently started work. And on page 10 you can see how your campaign efforts have helped keep up the pressure on decision-makers to do even more.

Happy reading, and please pass it on when you’ve finished. Did you know you can receive Oasis by email – find out more below.

Barbara Frost Chief Executive

Oasis is published by WaterAid47–49 Durham Street, London, SE11 5JD, UK T: +44 (0)20 7793 4594

Registered charity numbers 288701 (England and Wales) and SC039479 (Scotland)

Editor: Tom Burgess. Design by: LCD.uk.com

Cover image: Annie Weah, 38, with her youngest son, Friday. For more stories and images from Liberia, turn to pages 14 to 18.

4 News

6 WaterAid24 Our 24-hour tweetathon from around the world!

8 Pakistan: one year on How your support helped people after the devastating floods.

10 Keeping up the pressure Our campaigning year.

12 Technology The rainwater harvesting jar.

14 Liberia: part one ‘The road to water and sanitation’ by Rose George.

16 Liberia: part two ‘The steep climb’ – images from Liberian communities.

18 A day in the life of… Nazmun Naher, a programme officer from WaterAid in Bangladesh.

20 Splash out! Our work with young people.

22 Get involved Run, climb, drink, shop and speak for WaterAid.

24 Investing in an inspiring future

Welcome

Inside 8

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Why not receive Oasis by email instead? Sending you Oasis by email is faster, cheaper and you can pass it on to friends more easily! Email [email protected] paper copy of Oasis costs 17p to produce, plus P&P.

Where your money goes

WaterAid transforms lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in the world’s poorest communities. We work with partners and influence decision-makers to maximise our impact.

2 Oasis The WaterAid Journal Autumn/Winter 2011 Oasis The WaterAid Journal Autumn/Winter 2011 3

At the time of writing, the poor rains in the Horn of Africa are still contributing to severe water shortages, failed harvests and food insecurity, affecting more than 10 million people in Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia and Djibouti.

Some communities in the Konso region in Ethiopia where WaterAid works will start receiving emergency assistance this month. If the rains

expected in September also fail, then the drought could have an even greater reach.

In Uganda, WaterAid’s programme areas have been affected and WaterAid staff and partners are closely monitoring the situation. As yet we have no programme work on the ground in Kenya.

For anyone wanting to help the relief effort, please visit www.dec.org.uk.

News

WaterAid turns 30!

WaterAid had another gloriously muddy and successful year at Glastonbury festival, where we signed up 18,000 to our petition and raised £27,000 in donations from generous revellers. Our teams of volunteers kept our famous latrines spick

and span and (temporarily) tattooed thousands of people with our three designs created by DJ Lauren Laverne and singers Eliza Doolittle and Emmy the Great.

Go to www.wateraid.org/glasto to see the pics!

Youth speaks to power!On 12 July, 11 year old WaterAid supporter Myron Wenden-Hadley delivered 24,277 signatures from WaterAid supporters to the Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell, asking the UK Government to commit to lifting 100 million people out of water and sanitation poverty by 2015. Thank you to Myron and all those who signed the petition.

Read more on page 11.

Pakistan is getting back on its feet one year after the devastating floods that affected millions of people. Your support has directly helped over 266,000 people to date with emergency assistance as they rebuild their

lives. Read more about the floods and see our powerful new photos from the affected areas on the BBC website: www.wateraid.org/floods.

Read the full article on page 8.

Since being formed in 1981 by a group of individuals working in the water industry, WaterAid has reached almost 16 million people with safe water and, since 2004, more than 11 million with sanitation. You are now one of more than 200,000 supporters without whose generosity and commitment, we simply could

not do what we do. We have come a long way since our first project in Zambia and you now fund water, sanitation and hygiene projects in 26 countries in Africa, Asia, the Pacific region.

Find out how far you have helped us come by looking at the interactive timeline and new film at www.wateraid.org/30years.

Taking Twitter by storm WaterAid is the first international development charity to host a 24-hour tweetathon in order to showcase its work around the world.

WaterAid24 began in Australia at midnight British Summer Time on Tuesday 7 June and ended in America, with updates from Asia, Africa, the Pacific region and Europe in between. Turn the page to find out more.

An-Tiki crosses AtlanticFour ‘mature’ adventurers crossed the Atlantic for WaterAid in a raft made of polyethylene pipes and a pig shelter! Anthony Smith, 85, David Hildred, 57, Dr Andrew Bainbridge, 56, and John Russell, 61, sailed the 39-foot raft ‘An-Tiki’ across the Atlantic Ocean from the Canaries to the Caribbean and hope to raise over £50,000. To find out more about the amazing An-Tiki project, please visit www.an-tiki.com.

News in brief

Horn of Africa drought

Get your WaterAid newsSign up to receive Oasis by email by writing to [email protected].

Sign up to receive our monthly E-news at www.wateraid.org/enews.

Join the conversation at:www.twitter.com/wateraidwww.facebook.com/wateraid www.youtube.com/wateraid

On 21 July 2011 WaterAid was 30 years old and we would not have got here without you! Everything we have ever done has only been possible thanks to your support. So, why not find out what you are a part of by watching our new short film and using our interactive timeline.

Pakistan: after the floods

Glastonbury in mud shock

WaterAid/Asim

Hafeez

WaterAid/Emily Graham

WaterAid

WaterAid/Richard Steele

WaterAid’s founders in 1981.


Tweet all about it!Join the conversation!

Thousands of WaterAid supporters get involved with WaterAid on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. We regularly post photos, videos and news, and the lively feedback and discussions just flow from there! Follow the links below:

www.twitter.com/wateraid www.facebook.com/wateraid www.youtube.com/wateraid

Ever wondered how WaterAid works? How the organisation functions, from the back offices to the front line? Our 24 hour Twitter tweetathon – ‘WaterAid24’ – was our way of sharing a typical day with the world!

On Tuesday 7 June, on the social networking website Twitter, starting at midnight in Australia and ending at midnight in America, our staff from across the world ‘tweeted’ about their everyday activities: from working in schools and talking to governments, to cleaning wells and installing taps. More than 10,000 people followed ‘WaterAid24’ and re-tweeted our messages, making the conversation truly global.

The idea was to give our Twitter followers an insight into what WaterAid does minute to minute on a typical day. Here are just a few of our tweeting highlights from WaterAid24!

See all the tweets from the day at www.wateraid.org/wateraid24.

AustraliaGetting the giant loo out of storage for awareness-raising day with school children!

TanzaniaNational budget presented to Parliament tomorrow. Got doc now – doubling finance for water & sanitation. Yippee!

NepalCleaning 19 dug wells with communities in Lalitpur district to mark the traditional Sithi Nakha festival.

MalawiTalking to the Community Development Chair for a low income area to plan training a health committee.

MozambiqueNew taps provide safe drinking water for children in two primary schools in Maputo.

Liberia/Sierra LeoneHi from Liberia/Sierra Leone team! Rain finally stopped. How can a country with so much rain have so little drinking water?Nicaragua

Pour-flush toilets by our partner FUPADE are a big success esp. for the elderly.

IndiaMeeting former chief engineer for Public Health engineering dept to deepen sector engagement on water security.

United StatesPrepping for discussion tomorrow on water, sanitation & hygiene as key to getting & keeping kids in school!

UgandaCountry rep Alice talks to the media about importance of water and sanitation at a civil society fair.

All photos: WaterAid and partners


Samia Malik is a female health worker in Jampur, a small city devastated by the floods, where unsafe water and inadequate sanitation were causing the spread of disease.

“When we saw the water rushing into our fields, tears came into our eyes,” she said. “How painful it really is to leave one’s home behind. There was no sense of where our children were or where we were.”

Since the floods, Samia has helped 200 households in the area by going from door

to door advising people to boil water and sharing hygiene lessons, with support from WaterAid’s partner organisation, MUAWIN (Movement for Urban Areas Wellbeing through Information and Networking).

“There were many patients,” she said. “Some with eye infections, some with stomach disorders, but the main culprit was contaminated water. Lack of cleanliness is the root of every disease, but now there is a lot of awareness of these things.”

It has been just over a year since floods devastated much of Pakistan, engulfing an area the size of the UK, causing 2,000 deaths, displacing 20 million people and reducing entire towns to little more than bricks and mud.

Thank you for your crucial support. Your generosity meant that WaterAid was able to provide aid in the wake of one of the worst crises in Pakistan’s history, helping to reduce the spread of disease and get life back to normal for thousands of families by providing access to safe water and clean toilets, and promoting good hygiene.

One year on from a crisis that destroyed much of Pakistan’s infrastructure, a lot has been done to help meet the needs of affected families. However, many areas still require proper sewerage systems, access to safe, sustainable water supplies, and permanent homes, schools and facilities to help people rebuild their lives and regain hope for the future.

Only through the kindness of our supporters can we continue to work with our partners to ensure the people of Pakistan have flood-resistant and sustainable technologies to provide them with safe water and sanitation all year round. Thank you.

Read more about the floods and see our powerful new photos from the affected areas on the BBC website: www.wateraid.org/floods.

Pakistan floods: One year on

When we saw the water rushing into our fields, tears came into our eyes.”

WaterAid/Asim

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Thank youYou helped us raise almost £275,000. We helped more than 266,000 people with:

• 10,000 hygiene kits• 15,500 mosquito nets• 670,600 water purification tablets• 12,000 sachets of oral rehydration solution• 600 hygiene sessions to reduce the

spread of diseases• 20 water tankers holding 2,200 litres each

Samia inspects children’s hands and shows how to keep them clean.The 2010 floods were the worst in Pakistan’s history.

Girls enjoy safe water from a new handpump in Sindh province.

98 Oasis The WaterAid Journal Autumn/Winter 2011Oasis The WaterAid Journal Autumn/Winter 2011

Meeting the Secretary of State In our last edition of Oasis, our Chief Executive Barbara Frost interviewed Andrew Mitchell, Secretary of State for International Development. It was an exciting time for all of us at WaterAid because the Government had recognised the importance of water and sanitation in their manifesto.

Bilateral Aid ReviewHowever, in the UK Government’s subsequent Bilateral Aid Review the targets for the provision of water and sanitation were disappointingly low. By 2015 the Government aims to provide 15 million people access to clean drinking water and improve access to sanitation for 25 million. This is not much more than WaterAid’s own targets.

World Water Day Thanks to our supporters, more than 40 MPs ‘Walked for Water’ at Westminster (see photo below), as part of a global campaign. They were joined by more than 350,000 people across the globe walking in solidarity with the 884 million people worldwide who still have no access to safe drinking water.

An Early Day MotionMPs are also keen to see the Government do more on water and sanitation. On World Water Day, Don Foster MP tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM), urging the Government to significantly increase its ambition for water and sanitation. 82 MPs have signed this EDM so far.

First year in governmentTo mark the first anniversary of the Coalition Government, over 1,100 WaterAid supporters wrote to Andrew Mitchell, asking the Department for International Development (DFID) to increase their ambition and commit to lifting 100 million people out of water and sanitation poverty by 2015.

Loo Queue 24,277 people signed our Loo Queue petition asking the Government to commit to the 100 million people target. We took the campaign to Glastonbury, where festival-goers were no longer taking for granted the comfort of their home loos!

The hand inOn 12 July, 11 year old supporter Myron Wenden-Hadley delivered WaterAid’s Loo Queue petition to Andrew Mitchell. Myron said: “It’s not fair that some children are born in a country where they can’t use a toilet and drink clean water. I really believe this is wrong and we should be doing everything we can. 24,000 people agree with me and WaterAid.”

January February March April June July

Keeping up the pressureGlobally, there are 2.6 billion people living without safe sanitation and 884 million people without access to clean water. Only by influencing decision-makers can we realise our vision of a world where everyone has access to these fundamental human rights.

So what next?We’re busy working on some creative campaigning ideas and we need you to get involved. Go to www.wateraid.org/campaigns to sign up for e-alerts and be the first to hear about new ways you can add your voice to the call for water and sanitation for all. Right now, DFID is reviewing the Government’s planned investments in water, sanitation and hygiene, and how this aid can be spent more effectively. We’ll be keeping a close eye on their plans – sign up for campaigns e-alerts and we’ll keep you up to speed.

Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.

Ovid


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Myron hands the signatures to Andrew Mitchell.

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Glasto revellers queue for our beautiful latrines and sign the petition while they wait!

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Liberia: Part 1 by Rose George

It comes down to roads. In Liberia, there

is one decent road to most places, but its route takes in much more of the country than you expect: a trip that should take four hours takes a day and a half, because we must drive up to Guinea before

coming down again to arrive at Fish Town, the capital of River Gee county, where WaterAid has been working since 2010.

WaterAid has been promoting CLTS (Community-Led Total Sanitation) in River Gee. It is a fascinating programme that shocks people into realising

that by practicing open defecation – in Liberian English, ‘toileting in the bush’ – they are ingesting human excrement, because it gets carried back into the village on feet and paws and claws; on fingers and flies; and onto food and into drink. One of the tricks is to calculate how much human excrement is deposited in the village surroundings every year. In Bangladesh, they use boat-loads; in India truck-loads, and in Liberia they use rice sacks as the measurement, because

everyone eats rice. The total is always several tons, and it always shocks. Then the shock becomes a trigger for behaviour change, for people who think there is nothing wrong with open defecation to see their bush-toileting with new, disgusted and shamed eyes. It is bottom-up, not top-down.

It is a powerful programme that has done great things. But sometimes roads get in its way. Take a core principle of CLTS, that no subsidy be involved. Once they are triggered, people go home and dig their own latrine pits. Fair enough: but what if they live on a rocky hill, as the people of Nyonken do, and if they need specialist rock-crushing equipment and technicians who can only be found in Monrovia, 10 hours

drive away? What if the cement for a superstructure costs $15 a bag, when it’s $10 a bag in Monrovia, because there is a surcharge for transport costs? What if they have only one pick in the village, and it costs 300 Liberian dollars each way by motorbike to the nearest shops?

Roads, you see, mean the difference between sustainable water and sanitation and the other, broken-pump, abandoned-latrine kind. I ask the local NGO workers and Nyonken residents what Liberia’s priorities are. When I last came to Liberia, in 2005, they would all have said the same thing – ‘total peace’ – their memories of war still too vivid. Now, though, they want roads. After that education, then health, and maybe sanitation.

But roads first. With a good road, Pastor Saylee’s nine month old daughter Marie may not have died of diarrhoea, because the fare to get her to the clinic would be cheaper. Annie Weah’s mother Bessie Jah may not have died either, because once you get to the clinic, ORS diarrhoea treatment is free and well-stocked, even though it is often brought back to the village and mixed with dirty creek water, at least it was before the WaterAid-funded pumps were installed.

Habits are hard to break. There is lush green forest all around, and space a plenty for privacy in bush toileting. But shit travels. Shit always travels, and it travelled into the water that Bessie Jah and Marie Saylee drank, so that they died from something as banal as diarrhoea. They may not be the first thing we think of, when we are trying to solve the world’s sanitation crisis, but they should be one of the things on our mind. Because good roads would make people travel faster, and help stop deathly, dreadful diarrhoea in its tracks. www.wateraid.org/liberia

Freelance journalist Rose George visited Liberia in April this year to see for herself the challenges WaterAid faces in one of our newest country programmes.

Women carrying dirty water from a creek in Nyonken, River Gee County.

Annie Weah, 38, with her youngest son Friday. Her mother, Bessie Jah, died from diarrhoea.

Aubrey Wade/W

aterAid/Panos

“Roads, you see, mean the difference between sustainable water and sanitation and the other, broken-pump, abandoned-latrine kind.”

The road to

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Aubrey Wade/W

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“

“


1 Yvonne Toe, 39, carrying home unsafe water she has collected from a nearby creek. It is a steep climb back to the village from this unprotected water source and in the rainy season the path is treacherously slippery.

2 Bishop Dorbos, 48, with four of his six living children. Bishop stepped on an electric wire 16 years ago and lost the use of both of his legs. He spends most of the time inside his two-room home, lying on a board that acts as a bed. When he needs the toilet, he has to wait for his 12 year old son Achito to come home from school to help him defecate where he is and clear up afterward. Bishop says, “I just ask God now, there’s no other way. My only regret is that I want a bicycle wheelchair that I can use to move around.”

3 Pastor Charles S Saylee with his wife Doris and their two year old granddaughter Nancy. Their daughter Mami died last year from diarrhoea. The Pastor knows that diarrhoea is often caused by unclean water, but he says there was little choice. “Whether it’s dirty or not we use the creek water. Where else do I go to get water?” There is now a handpump in the village, so Nancy is able to drink clean water and does not get sick. Doris wants Nancy to go to school so that she can become a doctor.

4 Twenty two year old Gertrude Quayee. Gertrude is still at school in the fourth grade as she was unable to attend during the civil war years. The school has no running water supply. Gertrude was bitten by a snake while defecating in the bush during school. She says, “I fainted in the bush and then ran home. I’m scared of going to the bush now.” Like many people in her community, Gertrude often suffers from diarrhoea. A common practice amongst villagers when they have diarrhoea is to mix oral rehydration sachets with dirty water without boiling it.

5 Young people collect clean water from a handpump in Nyonken which was built by WaterAid’s partner in the area.

www.wateraid.org/liberia

All photos: Aubrey Wade/WaterAid/Panos

The

steep climb

1

2

3

4

5

In 2010, WaterAid started working in Liberia, only a few years after a brutal civil war destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure.

Today, peace presides, but poverty is acute. About 70% of Liberia’s population live in rural areas where access to safe water and sanitation is extremely limited, with devastating consequences. Around 2,600 children die every year from the resulting diarrhoeal diseases.

These stories from the isolated community of Tienpo district, where WaterAid has just started working, show how vital water, sanitation and hygiene are to getting countries like Liberia back on the road to recovery.

Liberia: Part 2


with partner engineers who are implementing new water and sanitation solutions in the field. I can often be found on the phone to an engineer first thing in the morning, giving feedback or advice on a project they will be working on that day.

I really like to get out into the field and see projects taking place myself whenever I can. I set out early so I can spend the entire day on site, taking photos and talking to partner staff about how everything is going. There’s no alternative to seeing the work in action. It brings it to life and allows me to prepare good reports on our progress.

offering my nightly prayer, sometimes with a story book by my bed.

Bringing dignity and happiness to people who otherwise would not have access to clean water and toilets is what keeps me motivated. By working for WaterAid, I am helping to make a smooth roadway for more of Bangladesh’s poorest people to have the right to clean, safe water. In this way I am passing my days, enriching myself everyday and acquiring satisfaction by working for poor people with WaterAid.

It wasn’t pre-planned for me to work in the

WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) sector. I’m actually trained as a civil engineer and started my career in local government. But after studying for a qualification in Water Resources Development, I was inspired to do more to help improve access to water and sanitation.

I got the chance to join

There have been times visiting a project site that I’ve come across an old and filthy toilet that people aren’t using. Seeing this is what motivates me to help deliver solutions. We are implementing low-cost running water systems in toilets to help communities better maintain their toilets. People are delighted to have these systems as it means they do not have to collect and carry water for toilet purposes.

As well as overseeing the technical side of projects, I look at the social impacts of WaterAid’s work. It is vital to motivate communities

A day in the life of...Nazmun Naher is a qualified engineer and has been working as a Programme Officer for WaterAid in Bangladesh for just over a year. Here she describes a typical day...

“

It is vital to motivate communities to get involved and manage projects after work is complete. This is what makes WaterAid’s work sustainable.”

WaterAid in August 2010. Although it was all totally new and different for me, and you could say that I took a risk, I took the opportunity and haven’t looked back since.

I leave my house at 7.30am to get to my office in Dhaka, about an hour’s bus ride away. The first thing I do is check my emails and plan my activities for the day. A large part of my job involves working closely

to get involved and manage projects after work is complete. This is what makes WaterAid’s work sustainable. I really enjoy hearing about my colleagues’ experiences in the field, their thinking and the people they meet – I would much rather listen to them talk about this than listen to music in the car driving between sites.

I finish for the day at about 5pm. Once I get home, I take a shower and chit-chat with my younger brother before dinner. I read the newspaper or watch television – I particularly like documentaries and travel programmes. I go to bed after

Nazmun visiting Uttar Pahartoli Primary School in Chittagong, where a submergible pump is being constructed.

WaterAid

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Bangladesh facts:• 20% of households in

Bangladesh do not have access to a safe water supply. Only 53% of households have access to a toilet.

• Every year, around 34,000 children under the age of five die from diarrhoea.

“


Where: Mali is in West Africa. The capital city is Bamako. Population: 12.7 million people live in Mali. Toilet fact: Only 36% of people in Mali have access to a proper toilet. Health fact: 16,000 children under the age of five die from diarrhoea every year.

WaterAid’s youth section

Splash out!Fact box: Mali

Learning about loos – with cakes too!

Louise Hawkins and Amy Leckie from Queen

Elizabeth’s School in Kent became teachers

for the day in support of WaterAid.

The girls prepared and taught a lesson about global water and sanitation issues for younger pupils as part of their GCSE Citizenship Studies coursework. They used a selection of our films, a PowerPoint

presentation and interviewed a member of

WaterAid’s staff to get all the latest water facts and statistics from around the world.

Amy and Louise said, “The lesson went really well. We think the people we taught

learnt something and in the future would

help support WaterAid.”

The girls also created a watery display with posters and materials which they requested through our website. This helped promote a cake sale they held in support of WaterAid (pictured).

Tasty fundraising treats, an excellent piece of

coursework for their studies and helping to

spread the word about water and sanitation

issues – well done Amy and Louise!

See Buckets of fun opposite.

Watery works of artWaterAid joined the judging panel

for an international children’s art

competition. Based on the theme

‘Water: refreshment or responsibility?’

the competition is part of a series of

events marking the International Year

of Chemistry. The winning entries

will be going on tour all over Europe!

View them online at www.rsc.org.

1. Mura Andre, 13, I.C.F. Cazzulani,

Italy. 2. Osvaldo Nencini, 14, Istituto

‘B.Buricchi’, Italy. 3. Loise Kasyoke,

15 and Juliet Ivyaiychama, 14

Machakos Girls’ High School, Kenya

Poetry cornerFor Those Who Don’t Have A Chanceby Eleanor Philp, aged 10

For those who don’t have a chance,to touch,to see,to taste,a living that they’re missing.let us think,for the water they don’t have.

WaterAid needs YOU!Are you a budding poet like Eleanor? Or have you splashed out for WaterAid like Amy and Louise? Send your stories and pictures to [email protected] or call 020 7793 4594 to tell us more.

Mali in focusMali is one of the world’s poorest

countries. It is mostly covered by desert

and rainfall is unpredictable, making life

very hard for Mali’s people.

WaterAid began working in Mali in

2000 and has helped provide water,

sanitation and hygiene education to

some of country’s poorest communities,

like Yacouba’s (pictured right).

“I wash my hands when I want to eat and

also when I finish. I also wash my hands

after I go to the toilet. I wash my hands

to avoid dirtiness because if you don’t

wash your hands when you eat, you eat

the dirtiness. I used to get sick, especially

with stomach aches and headaches.

“Since my teacher taught me about

hygiene and I started doing what he

taught me I can notice that I don’t

get sick anymore.”

Make WaterAid your school’s charity of the year!With posters and resources, volunteer speakers and WaterAid’s Community Fundraising Team on hand to help, fundraising for WaterAid this school year couldn’t be easier. Visit www.wateraid.org/schools for more information.

Buckets of funThis Autumn, collect buckets of pennies for buckets of water with your school to help transform lives in Malawi. For more information, posters and lesson plans, visit www.wateraid.org/bucketsofpennies or call 020 7793 4594.

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Help more people like Yacouba get clean, safe water

Yacouba (right) goes to school in Simba East in Mali. Here, he helps a friend wash her hands with soap.

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Harvest updateOur Seeds of hope appeal to churches and communities across the country is asking them to urgently raise over £125,000 for those in desperate need in Ethiopia. We have many materials available for you to use, including posters, collection envelopes and films. To order your free fundraising resources please call 020 7793 4594 or visit www.wateraid.org/harvest.

Christmas cardsCards sold in support of WaterAid will be available from Paperchase, Waterstone’s, WHSmith, John Lewis, Waitrose and www.amazon.co.uk.

For more information visit www.wateraid.org/christmas2011.

Double donations!In celebration of our 30th anniversary, The Co-operative Bank is doubling its donation to £30 for every WaterAid credit card taken out in September. Apply for yours today! www.wateraid.org/ creditcard

Get involvedBelu partnership WaterAid is excited to be the exclusive charity partner of eco-friendly bottled water brand, Belu water. Profits from the sale of Belu water will be going to WaterAid with a minimum commitment of £300,000. Belu water has a proven commitment to supporting clean water projects. By choosing Belu when drinking bottled water, you will be helping WaterAid to transform the lives of some of the world’s poorest people with access to clean water, improved sanitation and hygiene. For more information about the partnership and where Belu water is available visit www.beluwateraid.org.

30:30 Challenge Celebrate WaterAid’s 30th birthday by getting your company involved in our 30:30 Challenge. Just pick one or

more of our 30-themed fundraising ideas to take on as an individual or a team of colleagues and aim to raise at least £30 per person taking part. Law firm Herbert Smith LLP took on the challenge with a sponsored walking event in July. Almost 300 staff collectively walked enough distance to virtually reach Zambia, where the £15,000 they have raised will support WaterAid projects. Find your inspiration at www.wateraid.org/3030challenge.

Dates for 2011/12

Southern Water Race Day 1 October 2011 Back a winner at Fontwell Park Race Course, near Arundel. Last year over 6,000 race-goers raised over £11,000 for WaterAid! Contact [email protected] to book your place.

Thames Water Cycle Ride2 October 2011Cyclists will take to the roads to pedal from Beckton to Hampton to raise funds for WaterAid. Open to all to join – please email [email protected].

Veolia Ricky Road Run 30 October 2011 The annual nine mile race on the roads of Rickmansworth and Chorleywood. Last year the event raised over £25,000 for WaterAid! People of all ages and abilities are welcome. Email [email protected]

Brighton Half Marathon 19 February 2012 Over 12,000 runners are expected in this spectacular seaside run. This exciting event is not to be missed! www.wateraid.org/brightonhalfmarathon

Brighton Marathon 15 April 2012 Voted the UK’s best new marathon. Sign up today and as well as fundraising and training tips and a great post-race reception, you can attend our exclusive WaterAid Marathon training day! www.wateraid.org/brightonmarathon

Virgin London Marathon 22 April 2012 If you have your own place, we would love to have you on the WaterAid Team. Please email us at [email protected] and we will give you all the support you need.

WaterAid 200 9 June 2012 Climb one of 200 peaks across the UK on 9 June 2012. With mountains ranging in height and difficulty, this challenge has something for everyone. Email [email protected] for more details.

Six Peaks Challenge July 2012 Registration is now open at www.wateraidsixpeakschallenge.org.uk.

For more information on our events visit www.wateraid.org/events or call us on 020 7793 4594 unless otherwise stated.

Events volunteers needed! Come along and help at our WaterAid events! We are always looking for volunteers to help cheer on and support our teams. Call 020 7793 2232 or email [email protected] for more information.

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Why not join our Speaker Network or a local group by emailing [email protected].

Oasis The WaterAid Journal Autumn/Winter 2011 2322 Oasis The WaterAid Journal Autumn/Winter 2011

Investing in an inspiring future

Dear Supporter,

I’d like to start by saying hello, as I haven’t written in Oasis before. As a member of the Supporter Care Team at WaterAid, I have the privilege of speaking with hundreds of people like you who support WaterAid in so many different ways. So thank you for everything you do to make safe water and sanitation a reality for some of the world’s poorest people.

Something that has struck me about WaterAid supporters is a wonderful determination to make the future a better place for the world’s poorest people. A place where parents do not have to choose between giving their children dirty water or none at all; a world where every family has somewhere safe and private to go to the toilet.

We share this determination, and hope that one day we can all look back together and be astonished that there were times when access to clean water and proper sanitation wasn’t a reality for everyone. Each one of WaterAid’s projects is an investment in this future, where generation after generation of families will benefit. And that is why I hope you will consider remembering WaterAid in your Will. Supporting our work in this way really will go towards making this inspiring future a reality.

I do realise that this is a personal matter – and I’d like to assure you that we respect that entirely. If it would be helpful to receive some further information about supporting our work in this way, or would like to talk anything through, I’d be absolutely delighted to hear from you. You’ll find my contact details below, as well as a form if you prefer.

With my very best wishes,

Title InitialSurnameAddress

PostcodeTel mobile/home/work

Email

Please send me further information on this important way of giving.

Please contact me about this way of giving.

If there is anything else you’d like to tell us please do so below.

For more information on this important way of giving, please complete this form and return to me in the envelope provided: Kate Lambert, Freepost RRRZ-YRRB-ELKE, WaterAid, MELKSHAM, SN12 6YY.

11/OAB/02A

Registered charity numbers 288701 (England and Wales) and SC039479 (Scotland)

Kate Lambert Supporter Care Team 020 7793 4594 [email protected]

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Children play in safe, clean water, Mozambique.

Documents

Oasis Autumn Winter 2011 (1)