WATSAN’s trustees were delighted to welcome 30 of their valued supporters to afternoon tea, hosted by our Patron Bishop Andrew Watson at his residence in Guildford.

It was a perfect English spring day: glorious sunshine, flowers in full bloom and tea and cake aplenty! WATSAN trustees are extremely grateful to Bishop Andrew for sharing the beautiful gardens and marquee at Willow Grange for our tea party, which was the opportunity to put faces to names for both our trustees and some of our most loyal and longstanding supporters, and to celebrate 18 years since WATSAN was founded by Chair Ian Bensted MBE.

On arrival guests enjoyed a quiz around the garden, where they learnt eye-opening facts about water and sanitation in Uganda (for example, women typically walk 2km per water collection trip, carrying 20kg of water). There was a water relay game on the lawn, which gave a momentary insight into the effort required to carry full jerrycans of water, followed by talks from trustees over tea.

This was the chance for supporters to get to know each of the trustees better, and hear about their work for WATSAN and personal motivations for being trustees. WATSAN’s Chair Ian Bensted said: “Without you all, supporters and trustees, WATSAN would be nothing. I am personally grateful to you all for your support and assistance over the years, and many others who are unable to be with us this afternoon.”

Ian paid tribute to them, to the staff team in Uganda led by Rev Eric Baingana, and to those who we have lost in the past few years, in particular WATSAN’s longstanding Treasurer Stephen Bullett, and generous donor Sir John Houghton, whose recent legacy has enabled us to fund a new project vehicle in Uganda.

Bishop Andrew Watson said: “My connection with WATSAN goes back even beyond its 18 years – as I met the former director Eric Kamuteera when he came to Ridley Hall in the 1980s, when I was completing my training there. I was therefore really keen to be part of the project when Ian and Ellie later invited me to be its Patron.

“I visited the project in 2014 and what really impressed me was the fact that as much energy goes into making sure the community owns the projects as into the engineering side of things. It’s not something I had considered before and really makes WATSAN’s work unique.”

Trustees shared the personal greetings sent to supporters from Bishops Patrick Tugume and Dan Zoreka in Uganda, who are responsible for the two dioceses in which the charity operates. These can be seen here.

Another highlight was a new film highlighting the success story of a gravity flow scheme at Ruheza, and the need and potential for a similar scheme at Kazuru. Kazuru is WATSAN’s next target project and the subject of our current fundraising.

We then heard from two supporters, Martin Fosten and Neil Fairlamb, on what inspires them to be WATSAN donors. Key to this was the trustworthy stewardship of donor funds, thanks to close connections with the partners and team on the ground, as well as the demonstrable impact on the lives of people in the rural communities served.

Reverend James Hunt also shared his experiences as leader of a trip to Uganda with his church group in 2017, and his intention to organise another trip next year.

Trustees closed the event by sharing how supporters could help with our ongoing work: by increasing standing orders to assist with rises in the cost of living for the team on the ground; by taking part in this year’s walks for water; and by helping us find a new secretary to join the Board of Trustees. Bishop Andrew gave WATSAN a blessing before beautiful cakes made by Jenny Shirley were cut.

Thank you so much to everyone who came, it was such a pleasure to welcome you!

As we shared earlier in the year, following the success of our dispersed Walks for Water during the pandemic, we are encouraging our supporters to organise sponsored walks local to them to raise funds for WATSAN.

Two supporters have stepped up to the plate and are running walks this June. Participants from other parts of the country are most welcome to join these walks if you would like to meet other WATSAN supporters and enjoy a day out in a new area.

Amberley Walk for Water, Saturday 18th June from 9.30am

This is a 12-mile circuit in the South Downs National Park in West Sussex, taking in beautiful countryside, woodlands and fields, and the River Arun near Arundel (pictured). Details can be found in this leaflet. The walk leader is WATSAN trustee Graham Piper – contact him to join the walk at graham.piper@blueyonder.co.uk.

Faversham Walk for Water (“Up the Creek for WATSAN”!), Saturday 11th June from 10am

This walk is a mere 10.5 miles (or 25,000 steps), wending its way past the ancient buildings of old Faversham, along Faversham creek, out to the shoreline of the Swale and along the Saxon Way footpath to Whitstable via Seasalter. The walk is flat and most of it on the springing turf as you walk by the sea wall. Details can be found in this flyer. The walk leader is WATSAN supporter Martin Fosten – contact him to join the walk at martfosso@yahoo.co.uk.

We know both walk leaders would give anyone who would like to join the warmest of welcomes. Online sponsorship pages are easy to set up using our fundraising page on Stewardship.

We will welcome around 50 supporters by kind invitation of our patron Bishop Andrew and Revd Beverly Watson, at an event to celebrate 18 years since WATSAN started working in South Western Uganda.

On 21st May 2022 guests will enjoy news on screen from Uganda; have the chance to meet other supporters from across the UK, as well as our patron and trustees; as well as tour the beautiful garden at the Bishop’s residence and enjoy watery games followed by afternoon tea in the marquee.

The event is by invitation only but please contact our Secretary Ellie Bensted if you would be interested in joining: hello@watsanuganda.org.

Thanks to the record-breaking fundraising efforts during our series of dispersed Walks for Water, work is now advancing well on the ‘hardware’ components at Bwanga.

The dispersed Walks for Water across the UK, mandated by COVID restrictions, raised a fantastic total of £28k for our project at Bwanga Hill. This secondary school and rural community was seriously in need of support, and WATSAN’s dedicated trustees and supporters readily stepped up to help.

In his most recent report from the field, Project Director Eric Baingana has itemised the spending so far on the construction of a rainwater harvesting tank within the secondary school, as well as three tapstands, and two latrine blocks:

He says: “The tank is situated adjacent to the church building and is intended to serve resident staff and boys at Bwanga Secondary School. The purpose for this location is that the church is located uphill above the school staff quarters, which enables water from the tank to move down to the school by gravity, and the church has a massive roof which helps to serve this tank with enough rain water.”

The team is making great progress in spite of the ongoing challenges presented by COVID, which include school closures, curfews and limits on travel. The latter has prevented them from making as many inroads as they would like into the ‘software’ part of the project – engaging the local community in health and hygiene education, building a sense of ownership around their new facilities, and preparing to hand the structures over to them for ongoing maintenance. Restrictions have been easing into November and so we hope that these activities will recommence, so that work on this project can be completed by the end of March 2022.

Thank you so much again to all who raised funds for this project!

Find out more about our projects

COVID provided an opportunity to rethink WATSAN’s flagship fundraising event in 2021. Plan to be with us in June 2022!

Every two years since 2011, WATSAN Walks for Water have been key fundraising opportunities, raising vital funds for our projects in Uganda. In 2021, due to COVID restrictions and uncertainties, it was not possible to organise a single weekend gathering, as on the previous five occasions. However, the alternative of local walks held across England resulted in both a record number of participants and our best result ever of £28,212 for the Bwanga Hill project, which is now under construction and due for substantial completion by March 2022.

The trustees have therefore been presented with something of a conundrum. The local walks were popular and successful, thanks to our trustees and supporters, who worked so hard for us to achieve safe and successful outcomes. On the other hand we know that gathering everyone together occasionally has also produced enjoyable and worthwhile experiences.

We hope we have come up with an integrated plan, which relies once again on the willingness of trustees and supporters being prepared to organise local walks. Trustee Graham Piper and his wife Philippa are willing to offer a repeat of the popular South Downs Walk in June 2022. We would be delighted if others may be willing/wish to follow suit in 2022 and/or later years, and to organise their own local walks.

But this approach leaves us without any face-to-face contact with and between our supporters as a whole. To remedy this we are planning an afternoon gathering to which all our regular supporters will receive a personal invitation in due course. Meanwhile, please save the date of May 21st 2022! More details will follow, and we would hope to have a Ugandan presence, at least on screen.

In the meantime, we would be delighted to hear from previous organisers and new recruits who would be willing and able to organise a local walk on a date or dates in June 2022. Please contact Ian and Ellie.