Supporters trip
Find out about the experiences of one of Thames Water's employees who visited water and sanitation projects with WaterAid:
In 2007, Liz Negus, one of our employees, visited India experiencing first hand the impact that living without clean water and sanitation has on people's lives.
Liz Negus in India
Some of her experiences of visiting water and sanitation projects with WaterAid are documented below.
Visiting a rural village:
"I met one family and learnt about their water collection. The wife collected water from a nearby pond. The water was brown, full of leaves and twigs and had flies floating about in the water. She then heated the water before giving it to her child. The doctor told her to do this to stop the baby getting ill but as she hasn't had any proper training or advice she doesn't realise that she needs to fully boil the water. The remaining water is left in a pot outside the house where the animals and garbage are.
Only a few meters away from where my family collected water is where people go to the toilet. During heavy rains the basin fills up with water and the whole area is contaminated. It is clear to see that hygiene advice is urgently needed to ensure that her child has a future."
Visiting a slum:
"With no toilets hundreds of people are forced to defecate on the grass verge near the river which is a stone's throw from where people live but is also the main water source for people.
Walking through the narrow, muddy paths between the dwellings you couldn't get away from the flies and mosquitoes that are drawn by the rubbish that is sprawled throughout the slums. Again, we stopped to talk to various people in different households and found that in every house there was at least one family member suffering from some sort of disease ranging from Polio and worms to eye diseases."
WaterAid are currently running a campaign to End Water Poverty and are lobbying ahead of the G8 summit to make sanitisation and water a priority. Show your support for those who don't have the opportunity to fight for their basic human right of having access to clean water and sanitation by visiting www.endwaterpoverty.org/action.
