This July we are attempting to climb Africa's highest mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro. At 19,321 Feet, Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest free standing mountain in the world and we are attempting to complete our trek within 6 Nights. This trek will be a challenge and we are really not sure what to expect. All we know is that there are no showers and toilets along the way, which has caused Shameet and Gita some serious concerns! 

As we take on this trek, we are aiming to raise £6000 to fund a water project in a Bukonko, Uganda. Water is the foundation to the first steps of development and it has immediate impact on every part of a persons life. Growing up, we have all been blessed with access to clean and safe drinking water and we want to make it our mission, to really help those who struggle on a daily basis to access safe drinking water. Its disappointing that in this day and age, 1 in 8 people drink water that could kill them. 

Across much of the developing world, “unclean water is an immensely greater threat to human security than violent conflict”. Sadly, children’s vulnerability makes them the greatest bearers of this tragedy. Each year an estimated 2.2 million children die from diarrhoea and 443 million school days are lost to water-related illnesses. Most notably this crisis could be prevented by the provision of three fundamental foundations of human progress: delivering clean water, removing waste water and providing sanitation.

Rural peoples harbor the majority of this cruel, subtle crisis. The African continent faces the greatest challenge of any region of the world with roughly 1 in 3 (330 million) people not using a clean water source. Eighty-four percent of these people live in rural areas. Unfortunately, aid commitments for solutions targeting rural populations are declining. As a result, on any given day more than 50% of hospital beds in Sub-Saharan Africa are filled with water/hygiene related illnesses.

In rural settings it is traditionally women and young girls who bear the responsibility of obtaining their family’s water supply. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 68% of the rural population spends more than 1 hour per trip of water collection. That means valuable time, sometimes upwards of 3 hours a day, is lost collecting insufficient, contaminated water. Ultimately, a woman’s opportunity in education or small business ventures are entirely inhibited with this strenuous work.

Bukonko, Uganda

The Bukonko village is a community of 872 people (546 female and 326 male) who usually collect water from a stream called Walugogo. This water is contaminated. Before the drought, Bukonko villagers collecting moving water from the stream which carries all the waste. Presently, the situation has dramatically declined. The Iganga District is currently suffering a prolonged drought of already 5 months and continuing.  This has resulted in the stream completely drying up forcing women and children to collect water from shallow ponds of mud. Alternatively, villagers walk 1.5 km to the nearest water source which is a hand dug borehole at the nearby school.

Our Aim

We want to raise £6,000 allowing Water for Kids to install a borehole to collect clean water which is pumped through a pipe and easy to collect.  A borehole would ensure that safe water would be available even in periods of drought.

The project would be managed and maintained by a team of Ugandan Environmental Health Professionals who involve the community from the start using local labour and material.  They will work with the community long after the project is complete. Sustainability is also ensured by the setting up of a water committee and regular (self-funded) visits from Water for Kids Trustees who are Environmental
Health professionals Environmental Health students and volunteers.

Having read all these statistics, we hope that you choose to support our mission to fund this project in Bukonko. Please donate whatever you can. This trip is self-funded by all four of us, allowing all of the money raised to be directly sent to Water For Kids to fund this project. As a charity they have been working hard for 20 years to build safe water solutions in the most vulnerable locations across Africa and we hope that with the money you donate, we can assist them in continuing their excellent work. 

Thank you for your support 

Neal, Niharika, Gita and Shameet