For many years we have made special Christmas appeals with the aim of helping empower the poor by providing long term sustainable routes out of poverty.

This year we invite you to stand with us and support two projects that will protect vital water supplies in drought stricken Kenya and transform communities living in poverty in rural India.

Please watch this video to find out more: vimeo.com/243222148

Building on an existing partnership with Edward Buria and EDFRI International in Kenya, we will be helping to protect vital water supplies for hundreds of families affected by drought, with the renovation of two sand dams. Sand dams provide a clean, secure and local year-round water supply in water scarce environments. As the dams are close to villages, they stop the need for people walking for hours each day to collect water that is often unsafe to drink. This brings other benefits like enabling farmers to put their energies into food production not water collection.

Building on a new partnership with Vinu Paul and Commission in rural India, we will be setting in motion a long term community transformation project in Odisha, where most people are living on less than $1 per day. This project will empower local people with the knowledge and skills they need to transform their own communities, utilising the creative and natural resources. It will see the development of initiatives including savings and credit association schemes, small business creation, alongside developing conservation farming techniques, so that the whole community can see transformational benefit. 

Your giving will see life changing improvements in health and education to people living in extreme hardship and will bring much needed hope of a more secure future for hundreds of families trapped in poverty. 

We hope you will partner with us to see lives transformed as people are empowered to walk on pathways out of poverty.

For more information go to relationalmission.org/appeal17