Let’s get water to where it’s needed!

Where in the world is Zambia? Look at the map. Zambia is a country a long way away from the UK. Lots of people in Zambia don’t have taps for getting water in their homes or villages. Which continent is Zambia in? Spend some time finding out more about Zambia and the people who live there.

Welcome to Simango Basic School This is Simango Basic School. Up until recently there were no taps for the 800 pupils! When the pupils needed to drink water, or wash their hands, they had to go to the nearby river. Why do you think we need taps and water? List all the things you use water for. How many taps are there at your school, and how many pupils? How many pupils per tap does this equal?

Meet Jane Meet Jane This is 11-year-old Jane, who is a pupil at Simango Basic School. She lives with her grandparents in Inonge village, and doesn’t have any running water in her house. Jane’s favourite subject at school is English and she wants to be a doctor when she grows up so she can cure people. Where would you get your water from if you didn’t have taps in your house?

Jane’s morning Meet Jane Each day, Jane gets up at 5am and walks six kilometers (almost 4 miles) to school (put this distance into perspective for the children) What time do you get up in the morning? How far do you travel to school?

At school Jane’s day begins with sweeping the classroom and cleaning the blackboard. How does Jane’s classroom look different to yours?

Collecting water Until recently, every day, Jane also had to collect dirty water from the river to drink, because Simango school had no water. There are lots of snakes around the river, and cows who go to the toilet in the water. She used to have to carry the water back to school on her head. It took Jane half an hour to walk to and from the river and collect the water. Sometimes Jane just went thirsty because there wasn’t enough time to go and fetch water. Why do you think this might be dangerous? How do you think Jane feels when she is carrying the heavy bucket? How do you think Jane feels without having a drink all day?

Using the loo Until recently Simango Basic School only had 9 toilets for 800 pupils! There were no taps to wash hands after visiting the toilet, so Jane had to use the river water. Why do you think this would be a problem? Would you like to wash your hands with the water in the photo? Do you think there enough toilets for the pupils? Do you think these toilets would be clean and safe to use?

Across the world, children and women walk for miles every day to collect dirty water from streams, rivers and ponds, which can be very dangerous for them to drink. Every single day 900 children die of diseases caused by unsafe water and a lack of sanitation (Compare this figure to the population of your school). Over 650 million people – roughly one in ten of the world's population do not have access to safe water and 2.3 billion people – one in three of the world's population – do not have access to a decent toilet. Can you imagine if xx pupils in your class didn’t have a toilet to go to, and xx didn’t have clean water to drink?

Carrying the heavy water containers on their heads can damage children’s necks and spines and affect them for the rest of their lives. It is exhausting work and also means that children have to miss school because they are busy collecting water. The places where children collect water can sometimes be dangerous, with snakes and other animals around.

WaterAid is a charity that works to transform these people’s lives WaterAid is a charity that works to transform these people’s lives. They raise funds to build wells, install taps, toilets and provide education and training to help poor communities in Africa and Asia. The people are then able to start businesses, go to school and improve their health. It’s life changing work! Thanks to schools like yours Simango School now has a clean water supply! Jane explained that the water pump has made it easy to collect clean water for drinking and has increased hygiene at their school.’ “I’m so happy that we now have clean water nearby,” she said.

So now it’s over to you, to make a change. WaterAid can only carry out their life changing and vital work with your help. Help WaterAid raise money and awareness by taking part in the Pupil Pipeline challenge. Your donations will help WaterAid provide safe water and toilets for children like Tekalign in Ethiopia. These are simple things that can change lives forever. They help to stop the spread of germs and diseases, by making sure people know how to stay healthy. Having clean and safe drinking water means that children aren’t at risk of being unwell which means they are able to attend school without feeling ill, thirsty or tired from their long walk to fetch dangerous water for their families. So now it’s over to you, to make a change. Do you think you can help? WaterAid/Jon Spaull

Now would be a good time to show the Pupil Pipeline film: https://youtu.be/Fk9TQL25uLA