WaterAid Week at Welsh Water

Activities have included an online quiz, online bingo, a seven-day step challenge with over 30 teams taking part and a special video message from our partners in Uganda. 

Here’s what Steve Wilson, Managing Director of Wastewater, Business Customers and Energy and Chair of WaterAid in Wales, had to say…

Here at Welsh Water, we are proud to have been partnered with WaterAid since 2008. It’s such an important charity because even at this moment in time there are millions of people around the world who don’t have access to good clean water, toilets, and good hygiene. 

Clearly in the business we are in, we understand what that means and how hard it must be for those individuals.  That’s why we are so passionate about raising funds and since our partnership began our colleagues and customers have helped raise over £1 million for WaterAid. 

The past 12 months have been very different for our team and we’ve not been able to host the events we normally would. But much like everyone else, we’re adapting and looking at different ways we can support our partners, raise some much-needed funds, develop our own skills and have some fun in the process.

This week, I was lucky enough to catch up with Jane Mselle Sembuche, Country Director for Water Aid in Uganda, via Teams. I met Jane a few years ago when I went out to Uganda to see first-hand the work that’s going on there. Most of the money we raise goes towards projects that Jane and her team are working on. 

I asked her about the impact of Covid and much like us, Jane and her colleagues have been working from home, embracing new technologies, postponing face to face activities and struggling with broadband connections in rural areas. On a positive note, the pandemic has meant that the government and organisations like WaterAid have worked together to increase hand-washing facilities and to promote the importance of good hygiene. Jane hopes that this good work continues as life gradually returns to normal. She also wanted to than the team at Welsh Water and the people of Wales for their continued support and friendship and hopes to meet again in the future and celebrate what we have been able to achieve together. 

• £2 per month buys a year’s hygiene education for one school child in Uganda
• £5 per month employs a mason to construct a family latrine in Uganda
• £7 per month buys a bicycle for a hygiene education volunteer

Find out more about the work of WaterAid

If you would like to support us then you can donate here

Images courtesy of James Kiyimba, WaterAid