Harvest WaterAid Appeal

19th October

This year’s Harvest Appeal is in aid of WaterAid. During the first half of September we picked up a free bottle of water from church, and have been filling them with our spare money. The bottles will be collected on the 19th October at our Harvest Festival service, and they will be sent to WaterAid.

A bottle of water to be filled with coins in support of WaterAid

Information about WaterAid

WaterAid was founded in 1981 in response to the UN’s Decade of Drinking Water and Sanitation (1981-1991.) Money was initially raised from members of the UK water industry. In the decades since, WaterAid has raised money from the public and industry across the world, and has funded projects and advocacy for many different countries.

They write that:

Between 2009 and 2015 our ambition is that a further 25 million people will have access to safe water, improved hygiene and sanitation as a direct result of our work; and that by influencing the policies and practices of governments and service providers we will have reached a further 100 million people.

Some Statistics

• 748 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly one in ten of the world’s population.
• In 2013/14 WaterAid reached 1.9 million people with safe water and 2.9 million people with sanitation.
• Lack of water, sanitation and hygiene costs Sub-Saharan African countries more in lost GDP than the entire continent gets in development aid.
• Since 2004, WaterAid has reached 18 million people with sanitation.
• Diarrhoea is the third biggest killer of children under five years old in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Hygiene promotion is the most cost effective health intervention according to the World Bank.
• Hand-washing could reduce the risk of diarrhoea by nearly 50%.
• Just £15 can enable one person to access a lasting supply of safe water, improved hygiene and sanitation

Please consider supporting WaterAid through St Michael’s Harvest Appeal. Alternatively, you can find out more about WaterAid and how to support them on their website: wateraid.org