1. WaterAid’s Jars of Change Lent Appeal 2018

2. Children are missing out on the education they deserve
© WaterAid/ Sibtain Haider
Explain that this Lent, your congregation has chosen to support WaterAid and help children forced to leave school because of a lack of water and toilets. Their support will mean that WaterAid can install much needed taps and toilets, giving children the chance to go back to school and get the education they deserve.
Children across the world are missing lessons or dropping out of school all together because there’s no clean water. That’s because where there’s no running water, there are no working toilets, nothing to drink all day and nowhere to wash hands. The lack of clean drinking water makes it hard for students to concentrate, and not being able to wash their hands increases the risk of catching serious illnesses. The situation forces many children to drop out of school.
This year’s appeal focuses on a district in Pakistan called Thatta. In Thatta only half the schools have toilets. Just a quarter have running water and taps for students to wash their hands. WaterAid wants to change this with the help of churches like ours.

3. Ruqqa
© WaterAid/ Sibtain Haider
One child whose school is part of the 50% who don’t have clean water or toilets in Thatta, is 12-year-old Ruqqa.
Ruqqa lives with her 4 sisters, 5 brothers, mum, dad and grandma in Thatta, Pakistan.
Ruqqa’s life is like lots of other 12-year-olds’ lives across the world. She enjoys playing with her friends. They get together and play marbles and hopscotch whenever they can. But it is different in one way, she is no longer able to go to school.
That’s because her school has no running water and no toilets. This means that pupils at the school often miss lessons because they have to go to the river to collect water to drink or they have to travel home to use a toilet. As a young woman, this wasn’t possible for Ruqqa so she isn’t able to go to school anymore.
Instead she stays home and helps out with the chores. During the day she washes clothes and does the dishes. Helping her mum and grandma to cook food for the family. In the evening she helps out at the family farm.
But Ruqqa is desperate to return to school. She dreams of becoming a nurse and helping to treat the ill and elderly. However, she knows she needs a good education to continue her studies and become a nurse. Now Ruqqa looks forward to the day that taps and toilets are installed at her school and she can return to classes. She says, ‘I miss studies. Sindhi, which is my mother tongue, and mathematics were my favourite subjects, but what can I do, I have no other option, but to sit at home. Many girls and boys can come (back to school) and resume their studies whenever a washroom is installed.’
Ruqqa’s grandma, Gori, is hoping that one day Ruqqa will be able to return to school. Gori wasn’t able to attend school when she was younger because girls weren’t allowed to go, so she knows how important it is for Ruqqa to attend. She really hopes that soon Ruqqa can receive the education she deserves and achieve her dreams of becoming a nurse.

4. The solution
© WaterAid/ Sibtain Haider
WaterAid know that installing clean water, sanitation and spreading hygiene messages works and allows children to stay in school. They have already begun work in Thatta installing taps and toilets in schools and communities in the region. One child who has benefitted from access to clean water is Urusa, also 12.
Urusa also loves to play with her friends, particularly cricket, and also loves watching it on the TV with her family. The big difference between Ruqqa and Urusa though, is that Urusa is able to go to school.
She is able to attend school because WaterAid recently installed taps and toilets there. Urusa is thrilled because it means she is able continue studying and learning, which she loves. She knows that to get the job she dreams of she will have to do well at school and then go to university. Urusa dreams of being a scientist. She says, ‘“I want to become a scientist and then invent something that would help people”. It is also her family’s wish that she continues her studies and achieves her ambitions.
Urusa has learnt that there is a link between having access to clean water and decent toilets and being healthy. She knows that washing her hands and drinking clean water will help her stay healthy and allow her to attend school and keep up with learning.
Before WaterAid installed toilets and water in her school the pupils would have to travel all the way home to go to the toilet. It would take some children a really long time and they would miss their lessons. The water at the school used to make pupils ill because it wasn’t always safe to drink meaning children would miss even more lessons. Now things have changed and everyone at the school is pleased to have somewhere decent to go to the toilet and clean water to drink.
It is brilliant that Urusa now has a chance of achieving her dream of becoming a scientist and is looking forward to a happier, healthier future.
If you have time – you could show the Jars of Change appeal film to really bring Ruqqa and Urusa’s story to life for your congregation. Download the film from

5. 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 Lent, your church can be part of helping WaterAid make clean water, decent sanitation and hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere within a generation.

6. Join Jars of Change
© WaterAid/ Sibtain Haider
With the help of your congregation during Lent, WaterAid and our local partners can bring clean water and better hygiene standards to children like Ruqqa. Your support will help to ensure that children have the opportunity to learn, unlocking their potential.
Let your congregation know that by giving something up this Lent and donating the money you save – you could be changing lives.
WaterAid has produced loads of fantastic resources to support their fundraising, including the colourful jar sleeves that can be slotted into the container they use to collect their donations. They can even Gift Aid their donations using the form on the back of these sleeves.
You could also share some more fundraising ideas with the congregation. How about…
Instead of giving something up for the whole of Lent, they could host a dinner party and serve water instead of wine! Each person could contribute the amount they would have spent on the evening.
Saving water at home is really easy. How about swapping a bath for a shower or turning off the taps whilst cleaning your teeth can save gallons of water every week. The average bath uses 35 – 50 gallons of water, but a shower uses only around 25. Put a pound in your jar for every gallon of water you save this Lent.

7. Thank you!
© WaterAid/ Sibtain Haider
A huge thank you once again for supporting WaterAid’s Jars of Change Lent Appeal – your churches support will mean children like Ruqqa are able to return to school and look forward to a happier, healthier future.