Intrepid Waveney mums embark on 3-mile water trek for African children

A GROUP of four mums and their children are to walk three miles while carrying up to 30 litres of water in a charity event aimed to alleviate water poverty in Africa.

Led by Tara Darrall, she will be accompanied by friends Katie, Sophie and Suzanne, all from Waveney, on their quest to understand the hardship faced by women and children who daily trek to collect water.

As Team Waveney walk half way and collect vessels weighing water, the equivalent will be carried by Abike, Termin, Mariam and Olushola, in an African community, for real on the same days.

The event, from Monday July 30-Friday August 3, will raise money for UK-based charity Hope Spring. It works with African communities to establish sustainable sources of clean water and alleviate problems associated with the lack of access to clean water.

Tara commented: "Sometimes you realise just how lucky you are. Last year after walking my son to school questions just popped into my head. “What if I now had to walk and collect water for all the household needs?” “What if I had to do this every day? “ What if I sent the children to collect it instead? Would they be safe?

"I felt a panic rising and on returning home, I did some research. And the facts were very upsetting and startling."

Over 340,000 children under the age of five years die annually due to diseases caused by unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and hygiene. An estimated 263 million people spent over 30 minutes per round trip to collect water from an improved water source, while others spend up to 6 hours a day collecting water.

Tara added: "We felt we needed to do something not only to raise money to help but to create empathy and awareness in the younger generation.

"Since the task of collecting water around the world mostly falls to women and children we decided to mirror this by doing our treks to collect water with our children and their friends."

Each day the trek will increase reflecting the different distance the women and children, for example in Ivory Coast and Nigeria, have to walk to their water sources.
Temi Odurinde, of Hope Spring, praised Team Waveney for helping to raise awareness of such a critical issue.

The charity actively assists remote African communities in identifying, developing and establishing a sustainable source of clean water. It aims to alleviate poverty, as well as overcoming sanitation and hygiene challenges associated with lack of access to clean water.

"Money raised from Team Waveney will be used straight away on projects helping to bring clean, safe water closer to home for some families," Temi added. "This will free up time for the children to go to school and the women to do other work.

A fundraising page has been set up to enable people and well-wishers to donate towards the event. Donations can also be made via Team Waveney walk for water Facebook post.

Temi said: "The more we raise, the more we can help others access the basic human right to clean, safe water. You can read more about team Waveney walk for water challenge on this page. There will be a daily update of Tara and her team's progress via Hope Spring social media pages, including Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

For further information about Hope Spring:
Website: www.hopespring.org.uk
Telephone No: 01981 541339
Email: hello@hopespring.org.uk