Lifestyle change flows
26/03/2007
A North East charity enthusiast has returned from Northern India and has witnessed life-changing experiences.
Northumbrian Water employee Barry Leighton, who is Head of Procurement at the water company, has returned from the WaterAid supporters’ trip which took him thousands of miles across the globe to Bhubaneswar. He is overflowing with passion and enthusiasm for the charity and the people it saves.
The group of 18 volunteers visited a village where WaterAid had not yet started work, with no clean water supply or sanitation and where children were dying every day, and then a village where WaterAid’s work was well underway and death is no longer a daily heartache. For Barry it was like two different worlds.
The water worker witnessed the work of Northumbrian Water’s adopted international charity and how the fund raising and support, he and others do, changes the poorest people in the world’s lifestyle in Africa and Asia – a miracle in their eyes. He saw that a simple hand washing exercise before eating stops disease spreading and killing.
Witnessing the sparkle in a mother’s eye, who said: “My dream is coming true”, was an emotional experience for Barry. Her children are now safe from the killer disease, diarrhoea.
After dedicating ten years of his life raising awareness and funds for WaterAid, Barry has now experienced the hands-on work of WaterAid after helping a community build a toilet in one day which would normally have taken two days.
Barry, aged 47, who lives in Cleadon and works in Durham, said: “We saw some of the most vulnerable people on the planet, people who do not have water or toilets. They suffer every single day.
“There are hundreds of slums across Bhubaneswar. You have to see it to believe it. People use the river bank as a toilet which pollutes the river. They use disgusting dirty river water for washing and drinking. Gradually, WaterAid is building toilets, ensuring clean water is available and educating people to keep the water pumps working.
“In India, WaterAid work with the Ruchika Social Service, an organisation which build schools in the slums to ensure children are educated. These schools are a sanctuary for children providing care, welfare and an opportunity to break free from poverty. It costs just £500 to build a school yet the change to the childrens’ lives is priceless. One child is now able to go to medical school and another has a dance scholarship in America. I have already started raising money myself to build at least one school.”
WaterAid is Northumbrian Water’s adopted international charity which provides clean water, sanitation and hygiene education for people in Africa and Asia.
Further information on WaterAid can be found on website www.wateraid.org or by contacting Julie Wilson, fund raising secretary, via email at julie.wilson@nwl.co.uk or on 0191 301 6713.