This Christmas the college is giving the gift of safe, clean water instead of sending out Christmas cards.

In previous years Carmel College has bought corporate christmas cards from a different charity each year to send out to other colleges, governors, former staff and companies.  This year we are sending Christmas wishes by email instead and using the money normally spent to buy a lifesaving gift.  There are currently 884 million people in the world who do not have access to safe water.  Spending the same amount of money as in previous years, through the charity WaterAid, we have bought a sustainable water pump which will provide safe, clean water for a whole village and can be easily maintained and repaired by members of the community.

Sawadogo Talato from the village of Burkina Faso in Africa explains what a difference a water pump makes:  "Before we had the pump in the village, it was a luxury to have water to quench our thirst. Since we have had the well here we are so much happier. We can look after our children better, give them better food, or buy them things like shoes which we couldn’t do before. All the children go to school. Before we got the well, even the little ones walked 5kms and back again two times a day to get water. But now everything is better and they are much healthier."

If you would like to find out more about the lifesaving work of WaterAid please visit their website www.wateraid.org



Photograph courtesy of: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=587