WATSAN supporter Philippa Piper has created two beautiful quilts that she is generously offering to sell for the benefit of WATSAN’s Kazuru project.

In the cold winter weather, these quilts could keep you warm as you snuggle up to watch TV! They are available separately, or together. Offers will be considered in excess of £50 each. Handmade and unique, they make a perfect gift! Every penny of your purchase will go towards the fundraising for Phase 2 of WATSAN’s ambitious Kazuru gravity flow scheme, which has recently started in earnest.

The quilts are made from cotton with polyester/cotton backing and fleece padding for warmth and easy laundering. They measure 136cm x 230 cm each so can fit a single bed easily, or make a topper for a double bed or quilt for the sofa. Pictured below.

If you would like to help WATSAN in its fundraising efforts, do consider getting creative in a way such as this, or consider taking part in or donating to the Walk For Water in June (details to follow), where participants will be walking around 20km for WATSAN in areas around the country.

To purchase a quilt, email WATSAN’s Chair Graham Piper directly. Happy shopping!

We are incredibly grateful that six wonderful WATSAN supporters have stepped forward to lead a Walk for Water in June 2025, with local walks taking place in Leicestershire, The Cotswolds, Hampshire, Somerset, Kent and West Sussex.

This year’s walks will raise funds for Phase 2 of the Kazuru Gravity Flow Scheme. Phase 1 is in the process of being built, with the initial infrastruce now in place. Those on the August mission trip, attended by 21 people of all ages, helped to construct part of the scheme. We have an ambitious target to raise a further £50,000 for this phase of the project, with Walks for Water one of WATSAN’s most significant sources of funding since 2011.

WATSAN’s trustees are very grateful to the walk leaders for volunteering to run local walks, and to WATSAN supporter Andrew Starr for coordinating everyone. You can now sign up to take part in one of these walks by contacting the walk leader as below, who will support you with logistics, and with getting sponsorship to raise funds.

If these locations don’t suit you, do not fear! If you would like to complete your own walking challenge for WATSAN, we encourage you to do so, just contact Andrew Starr with your ideas.

Promotional ideas

Make sure to tell family and friends that you are doing the walk, and encourage them to join. Fundraisers can use our online platform Stewardship to set up their own personal page where friends and family can be invited to give. Share this on social media to raise awareness for the walk and WATSAN. We will also be creating a new video about Kazuru that you can share to encourage donations – watch this space!

Sign up now

Leicestershire: Saturday 21^st  June, 14 miles in the Charnwood Hills; contact Andrew Starr

The Cotswolds: Saturday 14th June, 18 miles along the River Windrush; contact Stephen Haywood

Hampshire: Saturday 21st June, 14 miles (plus shorter option) “Sights and Sounds of the South Downs” starting in Bishop’s Waltham; contact James Hunt

Somerset: Saturday 7th  June, 7 miles starting in South Petherton (11am start); contact Anne Gurner

Kent: Friday 27th June, 8.5 miles starting in Dymchurch (10.30am start); contact Martin Fosten

West Sussex: Saturday 14th June, 12 miles (plus 5-mile option) starting in Amberley; contact Graham Piper

In December 2024 WATSAN’s trustees received a detailed update from the team in Uganda on their progress on Kazuru, an ambitious scheme that will tackle the lack of safe drinking water by building a community water supply that uses gravity to supply a series of tap stands.

This major project has been the focus of WATSAN’s fundraising efforts over the past two years, and we were delighted to break the ground on the project in August 2024 during the visit from the mission team at St Peter’s Church.

Community engagement (aka “software”)

Best practice homes

A team of 10 families in the community were given a demonstration about how to organise the home environment to prioritise hygiene, equipping them to build their own at home.

The demonstration included the construction of a dish-drying rack, a bath shelter, a pit latrine, a compost pit and a tippy tap for hand washing. Afterwards, the participants built what they had learnt in their own homes, and by the end of the quarter, five homes had been completed.

Community meetings and training

To begin the project, a meeting was held to familiarise the members of the community with their role and explain the project. Working so closely with the community means the project is genuinely empowering of them, and enables them to maintain and operate the scheme themselves, ensuring long-term sustainability of the project. A hygiene and sanitation promotion community meeting was also held where the WATSAN team explained how local people could contribute to the construction of the project, as well as covering safeguarding and child protection.

Transect walks

The team in Uganda designed a checklist of hygiene observations to look out for on ‘transect walks’ around the community, including areas such as clothes washing and rubbish disposal, and recorded their findings to be used as a benchmark for future progress.

Construction (aka “hardware”)

Tanks to collect and purify water

Construction of the principal infrastructure to establish the GFS is complete. This includes

1. Protecting the raw water sources (“eyes”) from erosion and landslides caused by agricultural activity uphill and heavy rainfall
2. Connecting these to a 2.5m³ stone masonry water intake tank, levelling the surrounding area and planting it with environmentally friendly grass
3. Building a 4,500-litre stone masonry sedimentation tank downhill from the water intake tank, to enhance the filtration process, and connecting it to the water intake, including an overflow, washouts, and outlet for both tanks
4. Building and connecting a sedimentation tank and a reservoir tank further downhill.

The construction work was supervised weekly to ensure progress and provide encouragement to the staff and participating community.

Adapting on the spot

Because of a change to the original scheme design and the discovery of a new water source, the position of the reservoir tank and sedimentation tank was altered during the build. This involved finding a suitable new path for the water pipeline and prepping for the excavation of trenches in the next quarter.

Looking ahead

Casting our eyes to Phase 2, the Kazuru project is still our main ask, as there is still much work to be done on the initial infrastructure that has been built in Phase 1. Phase 2 will enable more pipework to be laid to supply tap stands to key local areas such as workplaces and schools. Phase 2 will also focus on a hygiene education programme and a sanitation building exercise.

Thank you so much to all of WATSAN’s donors and funders for their generosity, without which this important work would not be possible. ​

Donate now to Phase 2