Not surprisingly, here in the UK we take water for granted. Our water is clean and safe, readily available and our toughest choice is usually to go with still, sparkling or boiled. Imagine life where collecting water is often perilous for the women and children who are most often tasked with its collection, the water they collect is dirty and riddled with disease, and oftentimes unavailable.
Hard Facts
Here are some details: 1 in 10 people in developing countries don’t have access to clean water, a child dies every 2 minutes from water related diseases and 1 in 5 people don’t have access to adequate sanitation. That’s 2.27 billion people globally who don’t have access to basic hygiene services. Billions becomes an unimaginable number but 1 in 3 people around the world are unable to access these services. Hard to fathom.
What We Do
At Countrywise, we thought hard about the kind of charity we wanted to support. Not just what financial support we could offer, but we felt a ‘water charity’ would fit well with an ethos of providing support to those who need a helping hand. Just a Drop is a charity that has reached 1.8 million people in 32 countries since it began in 1998. They set up and manage sustainable projects to provide support to communities to help themselves, through such projects as the construction of hand-dug and drilled wells, pipelines, sand dams, rainwater harvesting systems and latrines, and health and sanitation programmes. Their help is tailored to each community, helping people source and maintain clean water supplies.
What we do for Just a Drop
We chose to raise funds for a borehole project in Kalungwishi village in Zambia. These inhabitants need support to provide their community with clean drinking water so they no longer have to experience the water born diseases which are rife. We are well on our way to raising our target of £5,000 and we thank you for your support. We welcome our own teams’ ideas to raise funds across a number of activities. You can help too. 
Why not set up a opportunity for your staff to donate through your payroll system, think of some ideas to raise funds locally within your home environment, or ask your customers in turn to donate. Small amounts can make a huge difference and if you need any reason to feel good about yourself while you help yourself to readily available chilled or hot water, helping this worthy charity spread the word and raise funds, would be a good thing to do.
You can find out more by contacting the charity direct or check out their website and see how you might be able to help. Just a Drop is certainly worth a moment of your time.