WaterAid’s Harvest Appeal 2018 WaterAid/ Basile Ouedraogo Use this PowerPoint to let your congregation know more about the WaterAid Harvest Appeal and explore the links between food and water this harvest.

Sablogo, Burkina Faso © WaterAid/ Basile Ouedraogo This year, WaterAid’s Harvest Appeal focuses on a community living in Sablogo, a village in Burkina Faso in west Africa. Every family in Sablogo depends on arable or livestock farming to survive but until recently there was no reliable source of water. The people of Sablogo had a choice; they either walked 3km to the nearest water point or they tried to find water in the riverbed (pictured) close to the village. Rainfall in Sablogo and across western Africa is becoming increasingly unpredictable which makes farming without a source of water even more difficult. Families struggled to grow enough food to feed their families and often spent hours collecting water instead of going to school or earning an income. Even when families could find water in the dried up riverbed, it was dirty and caused stomach aches, sickness and diarrhoea especially amongst the children. This in turn meant children missed school and fell behind with their education. This all changed when WaterAid installed clean water in the village and trained local people in water management and farming techniques.

WaterAid Let your congregation know a bit more about WaterAid. WaterAid is an international not-for-profit, determined to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere within a generation. Since we started in 1981, we’ve remained resolutely focused on tackling these three essentials that transform people’s lives. Without all three, people can’t live dignified, healthy lives. With all three, they can unlock their potential, break free from poverty, and change their lives for good. Children grow up healthy and strong, women and men get to earn a living, whole communities start to thrive. It sounds normal and it should be. By inspiring people and sparking chain reactions we help deliver lasting change in what’s normal. By working closely with partners internationally and on the ground in some of the toughest places in the world, we help achieve widespread change. Millions of people have already taken control of their lives and built better futures. Since WaterAid began they have reached 24.9 million people with clean water, 24 million with decent toilets and a 16.7 million with good hygiene Explain that this harvest, your church can be part of helping WaterAid make clean water, decent sanitation and hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere within a generation. The next slides contain stories from Sablogo to inspire your congregation

Evelyne’s story WaterAid/ Basile Ouedraogo Evelyne lives in Sablogo and her whole family have benefitted from getting access to clean water. Evelyne is 45 years old and lives in Sablogo with her five children. Before WaterAid worked in Sablogo, life was very difficult. Collecting water from the source 3km away meant she didn’t have time to look after her family or earn a living. So sometimes she would visit the riverbed just outside Sablogo where she would dig into the sand to collect dreg water. This dreg water was dirty as it was used by the livestock as well as people from Sablogo. Her whole family often suffered from stomach aches, sickness and diarrhoea after drinking it, even when it was boiled. Sometimes it was so dirty it would change the colour of the food she had prepared for her family. But since WaterAid installed boreholes in Sablogo, Evelyne no longer has to give her children water she knows could make them ill. She no longer uses the dreg water and she has noticed that her children are much healthier. They no longer miss lessons because of stomach aches or sickness and she is happy to be able to feed them healthy meals, prepared with clean water. Evelyne says, ‘Water and food go together. Our harvest and food - we have them thanks to water. The quality of our meals also depends on the water that we use for cooking.’ Evelyne also now has more time to do everyday activities; like looking after her home, earning an income and spending time with her family. Her life and her children’s lives have been transformed and they can look forward to happier, healthier futures all thanks to access to clean water.  

Moustapha’s story WaterAid/ Basile Ouedraogo Moustapha also lives in Sablogo with his family. For him, water is life. His whole family relies on water to grow food, to clean, to drink and to cook. It is crucial for their livelihoods. Moustapha is a farmer and faced a constant struggle to find enough water to grow food for his family. The lack of water meant he struggled to provide the basics for his children, like a nutritious meal, clothes and an education. However, when WaterAid worked with the community and provided a borehole they also worked with Moustapha and trained him to become a water monitor. He uses a rain gauge (called a pluviometer) to track rainfall and works alongside others from Sablogo checking the levels of water in the wells. This has helped Moustapha to grow crops throughout the year and now even in the dry season he is able to use his water management skills to grow tomatoes, cabbages, aubergines, onions and much more. Moustapha says, “The knowledge I have from water monitoring has improved my farming work. Before I didn’t know the right moment to start sowing. But now with the training and the water monitoring work, I have learnt how to supervise and pay attention to the beginning of the rainy season and the types of improved seeds needed to increase our luck for good production and harvest. I’m sharing information and advice with other people in the community.” Since water arrived in Sablogo, Moustapha knows his children will have water to drink which doesn’t make them ill and he is also able to grow healthy and nutritious food for them to eat. What’s more, he has extra crops each harvest which he is able to sell and in turn buy essentials for his family.

Give others a harvest worth celebrating WaterAid/ Basile Ouedraogo Explain that this harvest your congregation will be joining together to make sure other families have a harvest worth celebrating. From clean water flows livelihoods, education and health – together we can make bring clean water to many more families like Moustapha’s. Show the Harvest Appeal film now to bring WaterAid’s work to life. Download it here: www.wateraid.org/uk/harvest Or find it on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/HDI5_8zAVxc Thank you!