Prince Charles draws water in Kampala slums

The Prince of Wales meeting WaterAid partners in Kampala.

Credit: WaterAid / Paul Hetherington

HRH Prince Charles, WaterAid's President, took time out from the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting to visit WaterAid's work in the Kawempe area of the Kampala slums in Uganda.

The Prince spent time visiting a new water kiosk and hearing about the difference it had made to the lives of the local attendant and other members of the community. The Prince could see the tangible benefits of the water-point and drainage system put in place but was also aware of the large scale problems facing the slums areas.

"We at WaterAid were delighted and honoured to have our president HRH Prince Charles visit the work of our partners in Kawempe. By giving his time to listen to local people the Prince offers encouragement to other communities to work together to improve their access to water and sanitation. Hopefully the visit will lead to greater global and national understanding of the problems and also how simple and inexpensive solutions can be," commented Tim Fowler, WaterAid's Country Representative in Uganda.

The kiosk was constructed by local NGO AEE with support from WaterAid and funding from DFCU Bank. It is representative of the many facilities that WaterAid has put up in the area, each serving an average of 30 households.

WaterAid works in partnership with local communities and NGOs by fostering local ownership of facilities and building in country capacity to tackle the problems. The former is mainly achieved through fostering governance and accountability with support from DFID.

For more information, pictures and interviews contact:
Paul Hetherington +44 (0)7732 158128 or +256 414 505 797