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The voice of Scotland’s vibrant voluntary sector

Published by Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations

TFN is published by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, Mansfield Traquair Centre, 15 Mansfield Place, Edinburgh, EH3 6BB. The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation. Registration number SC003558.

Charity calls on public to March for Water

This news post is about 4 years old
 

WaterAid campaign aims to bring fresh water to communities across the globe.

A charity is challenging Scots to “go the distance” and increase the distance they walk every day in March in solidarity with the 785 million people in the world, who have no easy access to clean water.

Money raised through WaterAid’s March for Water campaign will go towards helping communities in the developing world get clean water for the first time.

The charity aims to recruit least 2,350 supporters to take to the streets this March, with each being challenged to raise at least £75.

For this year’s event, WaterAid has created an online hub allowing participants to create their own fundraising pages, win virtual badges when they meet their goals, record their walks and link distance tracker app Strava to their page.

Tim Wainwright, WaterAid’s chief executive, said: “Safe water is a human right that everyone, everywhere should enjoy. Every day around the world, millions of people have no choice but to walk long distances to collect water.

“Women and children bear most of the burden, often walking up to 16km (10 miles) several times a day. That time could be spent in school getting an education or working to make a decent living. By stepping up, raising money and marching in solidarity this March, we can help transform lives for good”.

Bibata Ouedraogo lives in the village of Basbedo in Central Burkina Faso. Before WaterAid intervention, the nearest borehole was four kilometres (2.5 miles) away, but during the rainy season the roads to the village were impassable, so villagers were forced to collect dirty water from the riverbed instead – which was still a two kilometre walk away.

Now, a borehole has been installed thanks to the charity and local community.

Bibata and her family no longer have to walk long distances for water or risk their health by drinking dirty water from the riverbed. The benefits are also being felt by their children, who can go to school instead of making long exhausting journeys several times a day for water.

Bibata said: “We wanted to do many things but the difficult access to water didn’t allow us to do most of them. Since water arrived, it helped us in many ways. Now we do small trade, we farm, we raise livestock and all these are sources of income for us.”

Every person who signs up to the challenge and donates at least £1 will get exclusive March for Water blue laces, which can be worn as a celebration of participation and support.