Team of hardy walkers trek 6km to help pay for clean water for children in developing countries

About a dozen hardy fundraisers took part in World Vision’s Global 6km Walk for Water event at Stanstead House on Saturday morning.

The effort is part of a determined drive to raise as much cash as possible to help deliver clean drinking water to impoverished communities.

World Vision says 6km – or 3.7 miles – is the average distance children in some of the world’s poorest countries are forced to walk each day for water.

Sue Tinney, of Havant, helped co-ordinate the event and said it was heartbreaking to hear of children struggling to find fresh drinking water.

The 75-year-old said: ‘Women and children – mostly children – are forced to walk miles every day to get water, often from a dirty ditch or a river which will be full of bugs and parasites.

‘Very often children going to get water can be attacked by other people. When you see about these kinds of things that people have to go to to get a basic essential of life is not right. It’s heartbreaking.’

Sue, who has been an ambassador at World Vision for more than a decade, added she had seen first hand how much of a difference the charity could make.

‘I have visited Senegal twice and I have seen how desperate conditions are,’ she said. ‘I remember going to a school and visiting some children who were thrilled to have a standpipe fitted, which meant they could get clean water at school and not miss any lessons.

‘Whereas we can turn a tap and there’s the water. We don’t even need to think about.’

Sue had hoped more people would attend the fundraiser but she said: ‘I think the weather did put some people off coming today which was a shame but not unexpected. We’re all being quite stalwart and brave about the rain.

The event is expected to raise £400.

However, Sue said this could pay for a well to be dug which could support an entire community.

‘The £400 could go quite a long way to helping,’ she said.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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