This Winter we had the privilege of living in Bangladesh as volunteers on an ICS project through Tearfund. During this project we lived with fellow brothers and sisters in a world completely different to our own, in a community that welcomed us with open arms. The experience of spending 3 months with a close and loving community was incredible and we were given the opportunity to carry out development work alongside community members.

Throughout our time living in what is commonly known as a developing country, we were exposed to many eye opening events. In our own culture, much of our lifestyle is focused on healthy living, consequently we can easily access the fundamental basics of a healthy lifestyle. Therefore, it's easy to forget what it would be like to live without one of these necessities.

As humans, water is one of these necessities and arguably the most important. Water saves lives, supports hygiene and sustains sanitation. This is obvious to us all, but until this luxury is removed do we often realise the true importance of our daily necessities. Today in the UK, we have almost unlimited access to clean water, therefore it is a common and overlooked luxury for many. However, during our time in Bangladesh, the community we lived in did not have this access.

Despite the noticeable materialistic differences in our lives, the community was happy and pleased by any contribution our team provided. However, we'd often hear from residents about the problems this water was causing, to then frequently seeing and sometimes experiencing for ourselves, the sickness of both humans and animals.

Off the back of the incredible hospitality shown by all in this community, it was on our hearts to make a larger difference to Badarpur aside from the projects we accomplished over the three months.

As a team we began the Water Project , collaborating together with our in-country volunteers to ensure that this would be a necessary and truly beneficial step for the whole community. We realised that it would be neither too difficult or easy to complete this project effectively. On our return, the research began and we were blessed to find that members of the community whom we'd lived with had a relationship with a local water filtration company. After getting quotes for the set-up and maintenance of a clean water plant we wrote our proposal for the community leaders. This was welcomed with open arms, signed and stamped so we could begin this work.

We understand that there are charities dedicated to clean or sanitary water and we very much support these charities. However, this is an opportunity for us to directly affect a large community of whom we developed a relationship with, without taking anything for ourselves. This specific purpose will not only be an opportunity to support and engage with this community, but also a chance to see for yourself that your donation goes directly to helping a community.

This project will be overseen by members of the community as well as our team, to ensure that it goes to plan. The company supplying the water plants is a local filtration company to the community that also employs a member of the community. Consequently, the project not only helps this community but also small local businesses in Bangladesh.

Supporting our Crowdfunding page is your chance to help make a difference and fight a massive issue affecting the health of over 400 community members. Enabling the set up and maintenance of two electrically powered water filtration plants in the community.

This project has been created by Joshua Taylor with the support and help of Sophie Page-Jones, Emily Brown, Henry Clothier and Francesca Oxley.