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The Monarch Foundation has set Monarch employees a challenge of raising money for its charity partner Just a Drop. The fundraising is for a special project which will bring clean and safe water to Matha Primary  School in Kenya, through the construction of a rain water harvesting tank which will help to transform the lives of
students. The tank will harvest water from the school roof during the two Kenyan rainy seasons and the project will also provide sanitation and hygiene education on how best to use the water and install three hand washing stations in the school near the latrines.

We are a team of employees from Monarch's HR department ("Walking for Water") and we are hoping to raise the most money overall for the project and have the opportunity to nominate team members to visit Matha School to see exactly our how our fundraising is making a difference. The trip will be paid for by Monarch and will take place in October 2016.

Matha Primary School is attended by 302 pupils in an arid rural area where there is limited water. The GPS coordinates of the school are: E037.87951, S02.00135. The school is based in Makueni County and is around 3 hours away from Nairobi. The area is rural and subject to frequent droughts. The Matha pupils use water from the Kikuu River - not only is it some distance away, it’s water which nobody should have to drink. The school is also forced to buy water at times, creating a huge financial burden to parents, who are already on low incomes. Every day, children are asked to bring water with them to school, water which is only available a distance away and which is not safe or clean, which has a massive impact on their lives:

What will the benefits of the school water tank be?
The tank will last for a minimum of 30 years, so many more pupils will also benefit well into the future. Just a Drop will monitor the project for 7 years, to ensure the full impact is achieved.

How much will it cost?
The cost of providing the tank is £7,780 and we’re hoping to raise as much as we can towards this!  If we exceed our fundraising target for one tank we will have the opportunity to help with other similar projects and help more people have access to clean, safe water.

How does Just a Drop help?
Monarch’s charity partner Just a Drop helps to provide clean water and sanitation in ways which involve the local community and have lasting positive effects. As an international water aid charity it provides clean, safe water to some of the poorest communities in over 30 countries worldwide.  Just a Drop was founded in 1998 by Fiona Jeffery OBE,
who named the charity ‘Just a Drop’ to reinforce the premise that if people can be encouraged to give a little then collectively they can make a huge difference.

So far, Just a Drop has delivered over 170 projects across 31 countries improving the lives of over 1.3 million people. Their projects support communities through the construction of wells, boreholes, pipelines, hand pumps and latrines and establish health and sanitation programmes for some of the poorest and remotest regions in the world
across Africa, Asia and Latin America, including Kenya, India, Uganda and Cambodia.

Thank you again for all your support!