Due to COVID restrictions, 15 different local walks were held across England, bringing in a record number of participants and raising £28,212 for WATSAN.
Walks of all kinds across many different terrains took place up and down the country throughout June 2021, and photos from each walk can be found here. Participants ranged from families of two or three people completing their own walks, to larger groups of up to 30 walking together and supported with refreshments along the way. The map shows the locations of the walks!
Our first walker and youngest participant was Amber Bushell (pictured), aged just 7, who completed her accompanied ascent of Coniston Old Man (2633 ft.) to mark her birthday. All the walkers completed personal challenges, whatever the length of their walk, to remember the difficulties that men, women and children face each day in Uganda on their walks to collect water.
On the evening of 19th June, we held a short celebration of all the walks on Zoom, after many walkers had completed their challenge that day. It was a chance to come together to hear how the walks had gone, discover more about the target project at Bwanga, and find out roughly how much we had raised collectively. A recording of this event can be found below.
Well done everyone, particularly to the hard-working organisers of each event, and our thanks to each and every walker and donor, great and small, for such an amazing result! Funds will be directed towards WATSAN’s project at Bwanga Hill, which will now proceed, and £10,000 has already been sent out to Uganda. More will follow in October. The educational components are likely to be delayed by the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown there, which we expect to last at least until September.
A further sum of £2,300 has been sent during the third quarter of the year to cover ‘furlough’ payments to the software team, who cannot work at present as no more than six people are allowed to gather together; safety measures for the team such as hand sanitiser and face masks; and support for those in the team suffering from Covid, or isolating as a result of contact with the disease. Field Director Eric Baingana tells us that prices have risen astronomically since the pandemic took a hold, not only for basic medicines such as paracetamol but also for fruit and vegetables and other necessities.
The Ugandan team is thrilled with the results of the various walks and send their heartfelt thanks to the walk organisers and to each and every participant.
WATSAN Uganda 