With a mission team recently returning from another life-changing trip to Uganda with WATSAN, many people have been asking us what more they can do to help and be involved.

The trip, which saw a 21-strong team visit Uganda in August 2024, has ignited a passion for WATSAN amongst its participants. There is nothing like seeing our work in practice on the ground to cement a commitment to WATSAN, and this is how most of our trustees came to be involved.

There are various concrete ways in which anyone can help WATSAN now! Please do consider becoming:

An Ambassador – promote WATSAN at your church, workplace and other networks
WATSAN can provide you with template PowerPoint slides, leaflets, video content for sharing. Download resource pack >

A Supporter – start giving regularly to WATSAN to provide stability to the charity
WATSAN benefits from a small cohort of regular donors who give anything from £5 to £50 a month – whatever you can afford is very much appreciated. Sign up here >

A Trustee – consider joining the UK board of trustees
WATSAN Uganda UK Support is run by a small team of volunteer trustees who fundraise for and advise the staff team in Uganda, and is looking for people with admin, comms and finance experience. Contact WATSAN’s Chair Graham Piper >

An Associate – help with specific tasks that support WATSAN’s work
WATSAN’s Associates take on more discrete tasks without becoming a full trustee, such as events or communications. Contact WATSAN’s Chair Graham Piper >

A Trip Organiser – help organise or be part of the leadership team on another trip
We are hoping to target another, similar trip within the next two to three years. Anyone of any age can be part of the leadership team. Contact trip organiser James Hunt >

Something else? – share your own ideas for what you could do!

Please do use the links above to take action now. Alternatively, if you’d like to discuss any of these options, you can contact us.

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

Every two years, supporters of WATSAN have stepped out on challenging sponsored walks to raise funds for a specific project that is happening in Uganda. Next year’s target project will be Phase 2 of the Kazuru gravity flow scheme.

Right now we have an ambitious gravity flow scheme in progress in Kazuru, where ground was broken in August. The launch of this project was attended by this year’s tour party of 21 visitors from the UK, on the hillside above the area to be served.

WATSAN has funds for half of that scheme, but needs another £50,000 to enable the project to be completed, with another similar project waiting in the wings. An exciting aspect of this project, which is located near the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, close to the border with DR Congo, is that we may be able to extend it to serve a Batwa (former pygmy) settlement.

Biennial Walks for Water were originally centrally organised, but, since COVID, have been successfully dispersed around the country to allow more people to take part. The funds raised from these walks has been one of WATSAN’s most significant sources of funding since 2011. The trustees are keen to maintain this tradition, and are very pleased that supporter Andrew Starr has volunteered to co-ordinate and provide support for a cluster of walks proposed for a Saturday in June 2025, around the longest day – the preferred date would be Saturday 21st June, but other Saturdays in early June/July might be preferred locally. An online get-together to connect with other regional walkers will be organised on the evening of 21st June.

We normally hope for about ten walks across the whole country. Some supporters have organised walks before and may be in a position to do so again. Others may like to pass the baton to a family member or friend, or take up the challenge for the first time themselves. Being a walk leader means planning a route of up to 20 miles (but it could be much less); recruiting walkers from your local networks; managing a safe environment on the day; and organising local sponsorship (support provided).

Please contact Andrew Starr on leicstarr@gmail.com before the end of December to register your interest.

We are creating a brand-new 2025 wall calendar to help you plan your months, and to raise money and awareness for WATSAN. Order in time for Christmas for our imminent print run.

The calendars will feature a selection of images from WATSAN’s projects and work, and you can display them proudly in your home as a supporter of WATSAN, or give them to friends and family as presents. They will be A5 wall calendars with a grid format for each day of the month, so that you can write in key dates.

The cost per calendar is £14.00 plus postage, payable by bank transfer. Please complete the form below by 30th November 2024 to receive your calendar.

WATSAN calendar order form

WATSAN supporter Mandy McIntosh runs a fair trade shop in Ashby de la Zouch and online. To mark World Toilet Day on 19th November, she is donating 10% of her takings to WATSAN from 15th to 30th November 2024.

The offer will include both sales from Mandy’s bricks and mortar shop, and her online shop www.fair2all.net, where you can buy upcycled and fair trade gifts, homewares, accessories and cards.

In 2017 Mandy was part of a team who went to South West Uganda and participated in a WATSAN project working with the local community to provide latrines in their school. Once the latrine block for older girls was completed, over 60 girls returned to education.

WATSAN’s trustees would like to thank Mandy very much for once again making this generous contribution to WATSAN, as she does every year for World Toilet Day. And of course, we encourage other supporters to do their Christmas shopping on the Fair2All website!

Visit the Fair2All website