Churches around the UK help provide the missing ingredient of clean water to poor communities this Harvest

This autumn, hundreds of churches around the UK will join WaterAid’s Recipe For Life Harvest appeal. By holding a harvest lunch or supper or by donating the cost of a typical Sunday lunch at the pub, they’ll help to raise vital funds to bring the missing ingredient of safe, clean water and the chance to grow crops to poor communities around the world. 
 
WaterAid’s appeal aims to help rural communities in countries like Uganda, where eight million people don’t have access to water, putting them at risk of disease or even death. They also have no way of harvesting crops without safe water near to their homes.
 
Everyday millions of children go without the essential ingredient of safe water. 38-year-old Aleper, who lives in a rural village in North Eastern Uganda, has to make the journey to collect water with her eldest daughter Teko Helen, three times a day. Aleper and her daughter cannot bring enough water back from the river to irrigate their crops. When the rains fail, so do their hopes for Harvest.

Felicity de Ste Croix from WaterAid said “It is at times like harvest when churches across the UK come together to celebrate the food and water we have available. It’s very easy for us to take clean water for granted; but around the world, millions of people do not have access to this basic resource and without water they cannot grow food to eat.
 
By doing something as simple as donating the cost of a typical Sunday lunch or holding a Harvest lunch or supper, congregations around the country will be transforming lives for the long term.”

Donations raised through the Harvest Appeal can really make a difference. A donation of as little as £10 – the cost of a typical pub lunch – could pay for two handpumps; a total of £200 could more than pay for a handpump, providing clean water for a whole Ugandan village.  And a collection of £597 could train local people to maintain and fix a village water point in Uganda, ensuring it works for the long term.
 
Anyone can join WaterAid’s Harvest appeal by holding a collection in their church using the special donation envelopes given by WaterAid, or by holding a Harvest supper and asking guests to pay a small fee to attend.
 
WaterAid has also provided a number of additional resources which can all be downloaded from www.wateraid.org/harvest and include traditional Ugandan recipes, fundraising tips, activities for children, an inspiring film and a poster so everyone knows the lifesaving impact that they can make by supporting the appeal.

Felicity de Ste Croix