Latest and Breaking News ...

"Well sorted" – our first sponsored wells in action

At last the news we’ve all been waiting for ......

Our partners in Bongo in northern Ghana, led by the resourceful Faustina Atipoka, have completed the restoration of broken wells in the villages of Asilga and Lungo in norther Ghana; access to safe, clean water is already changing the lives of people in the two villages, especially of the women who previously spent hours each day carrying the water ....

Above: All hands to the pump ... no shortage of interested helpers!

Above: Connecting the pipe ...

Above: Nearly there ...

Above: Satisfied customers!

We’ll give you full details when we have them, but we wanted to share the great news with you immediately.

Your generous donations are transforming lives!

Raising the money - Happenings and Events at Home

Our Second Newsletter! Christmas 2010 ===>

Sign up to the distribution list for the newsletter here

LWA in Africa’s World Cup

Africa went wild for football this summer when South Africa hosted the continent’s first-ever World Cup. Ghana carried the African flag as far as the quarter-finals, before being cheated out of a place in the semi-finals by the streetwise Uruguayans.

Less well-known is the role played by Living Water Africa behind the scenes in the tournament. Our treasurer John used to work in marketing for DyStar, world-leader in dyes for textiles, who work closely with Nike, adidas and the other sports brands to ensure good colour performance by those highly-prized football shirts. DyStar asked John to continue an old custom of producing a light-hearted daily commentary on the World Cup for the global DyStar team, explaining how the dyes were influencing success on the pitch; in return DyStar have made a large donation to the funds of LWA.

Paul the psychic octopus emerged as the true star of the World Cup, predicting the results of matches in each round with startling 100% success. In a global scoop for LWA we can now reveal that Paul, who clearly chose the winners by the colour of the country flag, was being closely advised on colour significance by DyStar.

Many thanks from LWA to DyStar for their generosity in supporting our work.

Our First Newsletter! Summer 2010 ===>

Sign up to the distribution list for the newsletter here

Celebrating Sam’s life in Salisbury Cathedral

The short but shining life of Samantha Verschueren was lovingly remembered and celebrated at a memorial service in Salisbury Cathedral on 23rd January 2010. A rich programme of music, featuring many of Sam’s favourites, was performed by her friend and fellow-organist Sam Hanson, and by a mixed choir gathered from various choirs with whom Sam had been involved over the years, as singer, conductor or Director of Music. This choir was conducted by Sam’s uncle, celebrated choral composer and conductor Bob Chilcott.

A moving highlight was the performance of Sam’s favourite Psalm 63, “I sing under the shadow of your wings”, in a new setting written by Bob for this service. Fittingly, as the photo shows, the choir did indeed sing under the shadow of angel wings.

Tributes were paid to Sam by her headmistress in Manchester Janet Pickering, her former chaplain in Cambridge Keith Straughan, Martine Pullen of the Samaritans, and her supervisor in musical studies at Southampton University Mark Everist. The address was given by family friend Rev Graeme Skinner.

Finally her father Paul introduced and formally inaugurated the charity Living Water Africa in Sam’s memory. Over £2000 was raised on the day to launch the work in combatting water poverty in Africa, with much more coming in during the weeks following the service. We now have sufficient resources to begin our selected projects which you can read about on our news page.

Our thanks again to all who supported the event, which we all found both moving and uplifting.

Putting the money to work - LWA Projects

Bongo Bongo (Ghana)

Ghana probably wouldn’t be a country which springs to mind when you’re thinking of water shortage, but up in the north, on the border with Burkina Faso, the area of Bongo is a dry savannah area in some danger of desertification.

Fellow-charity Bongo Development are already established in the area providing latrines in villages in Bongo (www.bongodevelopment.com). LWA are being advised by them in developing plans for improving the supply of clean water. Many potentially-valuable wells in Bongo are not in use because of lack of spare parts and maintenance, and could be brought back to life relatively cheaply.

We plan to begin restoration of a couple of wells in October when the rainy season ends, using a reputable local maintenance company and overseen by locally-based Bongo Development trustees.

Niger River, Mali

Mali is a landlocked country, most of which lies in the southern Sahara in a hot and dusty savannah zone. Rainfall, except in the tropical extreme south, is negligible and droughts are frequent. Around Africa Mali is famous for its musical tradition, making it a particularly appropriate country for work in memory of Sam.

Major international development charity Tearfund are intending to begin a large clean water programme in rural Mali. However as this programme cannot start before mid 2011, LWA has agreed to help with more urgent situations on a case by case basis. Work is planned to begin later this year and, if all goes well, we could extend cooperation with Tearfund into other areas.

Right: A Bozo girl in Bamako, Mali. One third of her people lack access to safe drinking water and arte exposed to high rates of water-borne diseases. One of the poorest countries in the world, annual government expenditure on health averages 4$/person.

Mombasa, Kenya

We are delighted to have the opportunity to support an initiative by one of the indigenous churches in Kenya, due to start mid next year (2011).

More details to follow ...

News items of interest from the wider aid community ...