Would you like to become more involved with WATSAN? The UK Support team is offering the opportunity for like-minded volunteers to join the Board of Trustees to offer their skills for the benefit of disadvantaged communities in Uganda.

Since 2005, WATSAN Uganda: UK Support has been raising funds from voluntary sources in order to work in partnership with a separately constituted Ugandan delivery team, which incurs project and running costs. We employ no staff in the UK, and have an annual turnover of up to £100,000, including regular donations, grant receipts and sponsorship from our regular big event: the Walk for Water.

The current trustees are looking to bring a more diverse range of perspectives and specialisms to the Board – and in particular to recruit a new Secretary with up-to-date administration skills. A full briefing and handover will be given by current Secretary Ellie Bensted, who has ably helped steer the charity in this role since WATSAN was founded in 2005!

A full job description for the Secretary role can be found here.

We would also be interested to hear from volunteers with experience in fundraising and event management.

Contact us to enquire or apply

WATSAN supporters took part in eight different sponsored walks across the UK during June 2023, from Hampshire in the South the Lake District in the North.

The walks and their leaders were as follows:

1. Hampshire, Pilgrim’s Way (South Downs) – James Hunt
2. Kent, Saxon shoreline (North Downs) – Martin Fosten
3. Somerset – Annie Gurner
4. Oxfordshire, Thames Path – Stephen and Maria Heywood
5. Leicestershire Charnwood Hills – Andrew Starr
6. South Derbyshire – Michael Vick
7. Yorkshire, Cleveland Way – Andrew Bailey
8. Lake District, Ullswater – Trish and Barry Halls

You can see a photo album of the walks here [downloads ppt]

Walkers and walk leaders got together on Zoom on 1st July to exchange stories, photos and fundraising totals, culminating in a total of £13,342 raised for WATSAN’s Kazuru gravity flow scheme, which will serve a large, remote community on the DRC border with its first supply of piped water.

Grateful thanks to the walkers and their friends for their sponsorship; to the walk leaders shown above for coordinating people and routes; and to Andrew Starr to pulling the whole event (and photos) together!

Donate to WATSAN

Thanks to our generous donors, who bid on an array of prizes from a signed rugby shirt to tea in the House of Lords, we have raised a significant amount towards our current target project.

The auction was held on Zoom on 16th March 2023, and was expertly compered by BBC Radio Oxford presenter Sophie Law. The event opened with an update from WATSAN’s Chair Ian Bensted, who explained that times are difficult for the WATSAN team, with the fall-out of COVID and a cost-of-living crisis still being felt. Trustee Kate Parrinder shared a video about the Kazuru gravity flow scheme, a project in one of the remotest areas of Uganda that will benefit a large community with first-time piped water supply.

Sophie then led the bidding on 26 auction ‘lots’, including weekend stays at rural retreats in Wales and Devon; a signed rugby shirt by the 2004 England rugby team; tea on the terrace at the House of Lords; a chauffeur-driven ride in a vintage car; jewellry and crafts; tickets to family days, theatre and classical music concerts; and a hand-drawn sketch of your favourite pet! Sophie’s radio presenter patter made proceedings fly by, with lots of laughs and enthusiastic bidding from the assembled audience.

The event culminated in a lovely announcement from donor Martin Fosten, who had inherited a collection of historic football caps and offered to auction them off, with all proceeds to WATSAN.

Huge thanks to Martin, Sophie and in particular Jenny Vaughan, who had the auction idea and obtained many of the prizes.

Find out more about Kazuru

Thanks to the generosity of many of our supporters sharing their time, skills and access, we are now able to announce a catalogue of 26 brilliant auction lots.

Auction prizes on offer include weekend stays at rural retreats in Wales and Devon; a signed rugby shirt by the 2004 England rugby team; tea on the terrace at the House of Lords; a chauffeur-driven ride in a vintage car; jewellry and crafts; tickets to family days, theatre and classical music concerts; and a hand-drawn sketch of your favourite pet!

Download the full catalogue of auction lots

The auction will take place online on Thursday 16th March, along with a virtual ‘cheese and wine’ WATSAN update.

You are encouraged to invite as many friends, family and acquaintances as possible to have the opportunity to bid on these fabulous and unique auction lots.

Date: Thursday 16th March

Time: 7.30-9.00pm

Location: Zoom

Register here to join WATSAN and our auctioneer, BBC presenter Sophie Law, for a informative and fun evening.

Grab your own cheese and a glass of whatever you fancy, and join us for an update about WATSAN, and the chance to meet the trustees and other donors, culminating in a fun and fabulous auction of promises to raise funds for our charity.

Prizes on offer include music concerts, personalised art works, long weekends in country cottages and tea on the terrace of the Houses of Parliament! Congratulations to WATSAN donor Jenny Vaughan, who has bid for and won our first auction prize: tickets to the Cirque du Soleil at the Royal Albert Hall.

Date: Thursday 16th March

Time: 7.30-9.00pm

Location: Zoom

It’s all in aid of a good cause: bringing life-saving water and dignified sanitation to the people of Kazuru, where children currently walk miles barefoot to collect water from polluted streams to survive. Our project will bring filtered, piped water to the heart of their community, meaning they can get on with going to school and lifting themselves out of poverty.

Register here to join WATSAN and our auctioneer, BBC presenter Sophie Law, for a informative and fun evening.

NB if you still have an auction prize to donate, please let us know ASAP by emailing hello@watsanuganda.org.