WATSAN has partnered with US charity Compassion International to deliver clean water and hygienic sanitation at Rwere, Katurika and Burama child development centres (CDCs).

Compassion International runs the three child development centres, which cater for children from the most poverty-stricken backgrounds in the area, including many orphans, who gather regularly for support, teaching, training and a good meal.

All three centres lacked adequate water and sanitation facilities, and had expanded well beyond their capability of providing core services, meaning they were playing continuous catch-up. Plans were drawn up by the WATSAN team for new toilets, changing rooms and water tanks for all three sites, and this project is now complete, having been largely using funds raised by our third “Walk for Water” in the Shropshire Hills.

Work was completed at Rwerere earlier this year and handed over to the community on 18th May 2016. In recent months Katurika and Burama have also been completed, with commissioning in October 2016. Each centre now has a large ferro-cement rainwater harvesting tank, a six-stance lined pit latrine, and a two-stance latrine with a urinal for use by staff. As always with WATSAN projects, associated health and hygiene education activities were undertaken, in parallel with the construction work.

Read about other projects in the pipeline

WATSAN volunteers will be available for questions at our stand at Farmer Gow’s sculpture trail until 9th October. The commission arising from any art sales at the exhibition will benefit two charities, including WATSAN.

The innovative art exhibition, Sculpture on the Farm, is an installation of nearly 300 works of art, including sculpture and paintings by local artists. Sculptor Lendon Scantlebury (pictured below) has carefully drawn on his long experience as exhibition organiser to bring together an eclectic mix of artworks that form a fascinating trail among the animals and landscape of Farmer Gow’s.

WATSAN trustees were delighted to attend the opening night of the exhibition on Friday 23rd September, where many guests visited our stand to discover our ‘magic tap’ and hear about our work in South-Western Uganda. Please do come and see us and enjoy this unique day out!

There will be daily demonstrations of wood and stone carving by the artists – using local wood to create dynamic flora and fauna, and stone from distant Zimbabwe carved in intricate and beautiful designs.

All the pieces on display are for sale, with 10% of the sales supporting WATSAN and Oxford Friends of Hope and Faith School. We are extremely grateful to Anne Gow, the farm’s owner, for this wonderful opportunity.

Find out more

WATSAN’s UK Support team are focusing all fundraising efforts on making a new project happen at a rural primary school in desperate need of better water and sanitation.

Rumbugu Primary School has around 400 pupils and 30 staff – and yet the school has no reliable source of water. A protected spring supplies intermittent water to a single tap that serves the whole school – but on the many occasions where no water is available from this tap, children have to resort to collecting water from clay pools. These pools have formed in former clay quarries, from which material has been extracted for brick-making, so the water in them is polluted and completely unsuitable to be consumed as the staff and pupils do regularly. As a result, illnesses are rife.

The sanitation situation is not much better, with the 40 female pupils sharing just one toilet.

WATSAN feels compelled to intervene as soon as possible to improve the lives of these pupils, as well as the 150-strong local community that also depends on the same water source. We propose two rainwater catchment tanks to collect water from the school roof and from the roof of the adjacent church; three pit latrines, bringing the number of toilets to eight; and the provision of bath shelters, dish drying racks and tippy taps, all in association with a health and hygiene education programme.

To achieve this, WATSAN needs to raise a further £18,000. We are seeking donations to this project via our online fundraising page, and plan for the proceeds of the forthcoming Walk for Water to contribute a large part of the project.

Sign up for the Walk for Water

Sam from the Software Team ties the knot.

We are delighted to report that Sam Mugirobusingye, Software Team Leader in our team in Uganda, was married to Otiria Akatuhimbisa on 13th August, 2016. We congratulate them on their marriage and wish them a long, happy and fruitful time in their new life together as man and wife.

The trustees have made a gift to the couple as wedding present and as a contribution to the costs of their wedding ceremony and celebrations.

Meet the leaders of the Ugandan staff team

The fourth WATSAN biennial ‘Walk for Water’ will take place on Saturday June 24th 2017 along a stretch of the Ridgeway, and passing through the very pretty spring-line villages to the north along a “figure of eight” route.

The full distance will be around 23 miles, but, as in previous similar events, there will be at least three refreshment points where it will be possible to drop out, with transport provided. Also, for those who would like to join us for a shorter walk, there will be the opportunity to walk just half of the “figure of eight”, in company with the main group, to complete just 11 miles.

Download our leaflet showing a map of the route

Download the sponsorship form

We have booked Courthill Centre, Letcombe Regis near Wantage, Oxon from the evening of June 23rd until Sunday morning June 25th, for those who would like to spend the weekend with us, at a cost of £45 – £50 per head, full board, including a light lunch on Saturday. If more convenient for you, do feel free to join us just for the day.

If you, and maybe friends or family, are seriously considering joining this group of WATSAN supporters, and participating in a spectacular trail through the Oxfordshire countryside, please email Ian and Ellie Bensted at bensted@easynet.co.uk and we will add you to the list of provisional takers, which already has at least a dozen or so on it! We will also need some non-walkers to join the Support Group who look after the rest of us!

The previous three walks have raised in excess of £35,000 for the project. In 2011 our first walk enabled the acquisition of a new vehicle for the team in Uganda. By next year it is likely to be necessary to think about a replacement, as it receives a major hammering on the unsurfaced tracks in Uganda!

Read about our previous Walk for Water