Would you consider increasing your support for the expert staff team that keeps the WATSAN show on the road, all year round?

For more than 20 years, WATSAN Uganda has worked to bring safe water, sanitation and hygiene to rural communities in South-West Uganda. The projects you support – from gravity flow schemes to spring protections – make daily life safer and healthier for thousands of people.

Behind every project sits a small amount of essential ‘core’ work. In the UK, this is carried out entirely by volunteers, who give their time freely. In Uganda, core costs cover the coordination, planning and oversight that ensure each project is well designed, well managed and built to last. These are the practical foundations that keep WATSAN’s work moving.

A growing need

Costs in Uganda rise each year – not only staff costs, but also the price of materials needed to build and maintain water and sanitation schemes. Some of our generous donors already adjust their giving annually to reflect this, for which we are incredibly grateful.

To keep WATSAN running smoothly, and to continue to support our Ugandan colleagues properly, we would now like to raise an additional £2,000 per quarter in regular, unrestricted giving. If every one of our supporters committed to an additional £3 per month, we would easily meet this target – less than the price of a coffee!

Why regular, flexible gifts matter

Unrestricted donations allow WATSAN to:

• Support the Ugandan team consistently
• Keep communication flowing between the UK and Uganda
• Maintain good governance and financial oversight
• Plan ahead with confidence.

Even a small monthly gift – or a modest increase to an existing standing order – strengthens the whole organisation, and helps ensure that every project is delivered safely and effectively.

Standing with us

WATSAN’s work is long-term and relationship‑based. It relies on trust, steady support and the quiet, reliable systems that keep everything running in the background.

If you’re able to help by starting or increasing a regular unrestricted gift, it would make a real difference to WATSAN’s stability and to the communities we serve in Uganda.

Set up or amend a standing order now

Sam Hunt and his fiancee Abby Hunnings ran 26.2 miles through Istanbul on Sunday 2nd November 2025. Funds raised will support WATSAN’s gravity flow scheme in Kazuru.

Sam and Abby took part in the 47th Istanbul Marathon, the only intercontinental marathon in the world. The route connects Europe and Asia, taking in Istanbul’s historic charm and stunning views, including breathtaking views of the Bosphorus, and ending near the iconic Sultanahmet Mosque.

Sam, whose dad James has recently become a trustee of WATSAN, says: “Running a marathon is something I’ve always wanted to do. I had heard of how much of a challenge it is, and I wanted to see for myself!

“I was very keen to raise money for WATSAN as it is a charity close to my heart, as my Grandad is the founder. I’ve been out to Uganda on two separate occasions, and it was truly life changing for me. The Ugandans have such a joyful attitude to life, despite having so little, which is something that we don’t see in the UK. For me it showed that satisfaction and contentment doesn’t come from the possessions and the provision we have, but a relationship with God.”

The trustees are really grateful to Sam and Abby for their dedication to WATSAN, including as volunteers on the most recent St Peter’s trip to Uganda, and in supporting with our communications.

So far Sam’s fundraising page has raised over £640 in donations and Gift Aid. There is still time to support his efforts – you can give to his page here!

Two communities will have access to clean and safe water thanks to spring protection projects funded with donations in memory of two special WATSAN supporters.

Construction and community engagement around Murambo spring is in progress. Local people are predominantly agriculturalists who rely heavily on coffee and banana plantations for their income. The villages are water stressed, with no tapped water, and the only sources are an open pond, or a polluted stream, resulting in constant water-related illnesses in the area.

During a community inception meeting, 41 families were engaged in the project plan, and a Project Implementation Committee was selected. The bulk of the construction is complete, and the water supply is expected to be connected imminently.

Katembagara spring is now serving around 42 families with an estimated population of about 195 people. Our colleagues on the ground in Uganda report back to us:

“The source was protected after a long wait while the community engaged different development partners and the district officials, but all in vain. Partly, the reason why there was failure to get support could have been the low geographical positioning of the source site, which made it hard to protect and secure its drainage. However, WATSAN engaged its experienced masons, who constructed a low-yield spring successfully with full participation of the beneficiary community.

“At the commissioning and handover of this spring, the beneficiaries were extremely happy and gave testimonies of disbelief because they had lost hope of clean water, as every other organisation had said that it was impossible to protect that source. An elderly lady, Kabaterana, who also gave her land for the construction of the spring, described it as a miracle, because she was used to taking water that was full of frogs’ eggs for the 60 years since she got married and settled in the area.”

If you’d like to create a fundraising page for WATSAN in memory of a loved one, you can do so on Stewardship – follow our how-to guide to set it up.

We share our huge thanks to two longstanding trustees who are retiring from WATSAN’s Board, and welcome three new trustees.

We are delighted to announce the appointment of three new trustees, who have joined WATSAN’s UK Support team:

Two other Board members have stepped down from their official trustee duties, and are involved in WATSAN in a less formal capacity as associates and general supporters:

Ellie Bensted has been WATSAN’s Secretary since the charity was founded by her husband Ian in 2004. During her 20+ years involvement with WATSAN, Ellie has built and stewarded our base of donors, resulting in over £1m in donations during our history. She has administered the charity’s governance, and hosted and minuted hundreds of trustee meetings. She has organised many successful fundraising events, from weekend-long walks for water to our anniversary tea party in 2024. Without Ellie and Ian, who handed over WATSAN’s Chair to Graham Piper last year, WATSAN simply would not exist, and over 200,000 people in Uganda would be without water and sanitation.

Andrew Maclean has been a WATSAN trustee since 2013, bringing his expertise as a chartered engineer with 30 years of experience, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, including Rukungiri, where he worked for WaterAid on the project that later became WATSAN. Many of the schemes that WATSAN still supports were Andrew’s original project, and he provided training to several of the engineers still active as part of the project in Uganda.

We cannot thank Ellie and Andrew enough for their astounding 33 combined years of trusteeship of WATSAN Uganda – UK Support, and for their continuing support of WATSAN’s work.

If you are interested in becoming a WATSAN trustee or associate, please do contact us.

Six local walks took place in Leicestershire,The Cotswolds, Hampshire, Somerset, Kent and West Sussex, raising £16,879.51 for the next phase of our ambitious gravity flow scheme.

WATSAN’s Chair Graham Piper said: “This is a fantastic result and well over our original goal of £10,000! I would like to thank all the walkers and walk leaders very much for the great effort you put into organising your respective walks for water, and encouraging your supporters to give generously in order to make this such a successful fundraising event. Well done!”

This will go a long way to helping WATSAN raise the full amount for the second phase of the Kazuru Gravity Flow Scheme. Approximately 2,000 beneficiaries covered by the first phase of the project are now receiving water from the 14 public tapstands that have been installed. Phase 2 will include the installation of toilet facilities in schools and other institutions along the pipeline; and the extension of the pipeline into the Batwa community – a particularly marginalised group in Ugandan society, living on the outskirts of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.

If you would like to support Phase 2, you can do so here.