15/04/2008

People in Africa who face a daily dice with death have made a lasting impression on a North East water worker.

Cara Hall, who is 34 and works for Northumbrian Water, travelled to a small, land-locked country in West Africa and witnessed a battle of survival because of the lack of clean, safe water, effective sanitation and hygiene education.  Water is vital for life but sadly some of the water people have to drink is diseased and deadly.

Burkina Faso, which is the second poorest country in the world and where the life expectancy is 47, has a population of 12.4 million and only 12% of people have access to effective sanitation and only 50% have access to clean, safe water. 

Zimbabwean-born Cara went on the fact-finding mission with the charity WaterAid and quickly realised that the top quality drinking water and wastewater treatment she takes for granted every day in the North East is the difference between life and death in Burkina Faso.  One in five children die before their fifth birthday.

WaterAid, Northumbrian Water’s adopted international charity, has worked in Burkina Faso since 2001.  It has developed strong and vital relationships with local organisations enabling education and engagement with local people to ensure water pumps and latrines are used and looked after.  WaterAid works in rural villages and also in new slum settlements near towns.  Farmers are moving to cities because of the drought resulting in a growth of shanty towns without water or sewerage facilities.

The week-long intensive, emotional journey involved travelling to rural villages and urban areas to witness the remarkable difference clean, safe water, sanitation and hygiene education makes to peoples’ lives.

Northumbrian Water’s 2.6 million customers, from Berwick down to North Yorkshire and across to the Pennines, have been sent a WaterAid appeal form with their annual water bill and can help relieve the stranglehold of poverty of people in Africa and Asia.  Just £15 gives a child clean, safe water, sanitation and hygiene education for life.

Cara is desperate to do what she can to help people in Burkina Faso and hopes others will help too:  “Bomtenga Village is the first place we visited and one of the villagers, called Abibou, made a big impact on me.  The 30-year-old collects her water, along with another 600 people, from a muddy hole in a dry riverbed.  She and her four children have to drink this disgusting water, ridden with disease, every day.  They don’t have anywhere safe or private to go to the toilet either.  Despite the appalling conditions she lives in, Abibou was warm, welcoming, had a beautiful smile and infectious laugh.  She deserves better. 

“One of the worst things I saw, which made me feel physically sick and moved me to tears, was people in an urban area in the capital, Ougadougou, collecting water to drink from a canal which contained raw sewage, animal intestines, mosquito larvae and rubbish.  I couldn’t believe what I was seeing!  People were also washing their clothes in this canal.

“Thankfully every year generous Northumbrian Water customers give around £25,000 to WaterAid through our water bill appeal.  This money gives people, dignity, pride, hope and a future.”

Every year Northumbrian Water arranges events to raise money for WaterAid and has raised £2.5 million in the last ten years, saving 167,000 lives.  Water company employees also make a huge voluntary effort to raise much-needed funds.  Cara has done a parachute jump, plunged into the freezing North Sea and climbed a 3000-foot mountain!

Businesses in the region also have the opportunity to make a difference to peoples’ lives by buying a table at this year’s Northumbrian WaterAid Ball.  The monster-themed ball is to be held on Friday, May 30 2008 at the Marriott Gosforth Park Hotel, Newcastle.  A table of ten costs £850.

To find out more about WaterAid, make a donation or buy a table at this year’s Northumbrian WaterAid Ball ring Julie Wilson 0191 301 6713, email wateraid@nwl.co.uk or log onto www.nwl.co.uk/WaterAid.aspx 

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For an interview with Cara Hall or further information please contact 0191 301 6720.