From Glastonbury with mud

Michael tries the new handpump bringing safe water to Issa village.

Credit: WaterAid / Suzanne Porter

WaterAid has benefited from the Glastonbury Festival since 1994 through a partnership that has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds and vital awareness of our work. Last year the Festival's founder Michael Eavis and his daughter Emily went to Mozambique to see just where the money they donate goes.

"The reason we're here is we're donating about £130,000 - £140,000 a year to WaterAid," said Michael. "Profits are going to increase in the future, so we're going to be doing more and more of this kind of work. We are very keen to see how the money's being spent."

Poverty remains widespread in Mozambique. Life expectancy is just 42 years, only a third of the population has access to safe water and fewer still have sanitation. The problems are most acute in Niassa - a province in the north of the country where the Eavis' trip began, in a town called Lichinga.

"It's pretty big, about 10,000 people," said Michael, "roughly the same size as Glastonbury - the town not the festival!"

Here Michael and Emily saw a rope pump workshop. WaterAid has been piloting the use of this simple technology since 2003. Communities can build and maintain the pumps themselves, using materials that are readily available. If the pump breaks, parts are affordable and easy to find, which means community members don't have to revert to their old water sources like unprotected wells, swamps and rivers.

At the workshop, Michael and Emily met Mr Chitime, the local supplier who explained how it worked. "I'm an expert now!" Michael said. "They make their own pumps from car tyres and bicycle wheels and it's a long rope that comes up through a plastic tube. It goes down about 12 metres into the ground and pulls the water up through the tube. It's incredible.

"We went to another village called Issa getting their water pumps going. They don't need high technology - it's so simple and so cheap. It's one of the poorest regions I've seen in my life, and water's the main thing they need. Each well costs about £1,000, so that's where we come in basically. It's great to know the festival makes a hell of a difference to these people."

Michael and Emily Eavis collecting water from a filthy source at Costa do Sol near Mozambique's  capital, Maputo.

Credit: WaterAid / Suzanne Porter

But there are many communities in Mozambique who are still without safe water. "We went to a place about 75 miles away from where we are staying called Sanga," Michael continued. "We drove for hours up a dirt track to get to it. There was nothing from the 20th century there at all, it was completely remote. No media, cars, telly, electricity. If you went back in time 600 years it would have been exactly the same. It's like the old hippy dream, the alternative society - no carbon, no pollution. I've never seen anything so pure and simple. All they need is fresh water, so WaterAid is going to start on a project next week. These people are taking so little from the planet, they are not polluting. They deserve it."

Another technology that WaterAid promotes in Mozambique is composting latrines. In rural areas where farming is a main source of income these latrines not only benefit people's health but also provide free compost which hugely boosts yields of maize crops and fruit trees. WaterAid and its local partner Estamos are now responding to demand from farmers to assist in constructing more in the future.

A trip with the Eavises would not be complete without music, and here Estamos stepped in again. The organisation's founder Santos and other staff are part of
Mozambique's biggest band, Massukos, who sing about good hygiene and sanitation alongside traditional songs.

"They were fantastic," Michael said, "a bit like the Bhundu Boys - we'd love to have them play the festival sometime!" In the days they spent in Mozambique Michael and Emily were really able to see the impact of the festival donations.

"They've got 75 wells in Niassa state now that they wouldn't have had otherwise. It's great value. The money goes much further out here. But it's just a beginning. There's a lot more needed. The officials don't seem to have the money to do it, the  economy's in pretty bad shape. The money really does make one hell of a difference."

Glastonbury 2007

Stephen Merchant was among the celebrities pledging their support for the End Water Poverty campaign.

Credit: WaterAid / Matt Simpson

2007 was the biggest ever Glastonbury Festival, and also one of the muddiest. But for WaterAid it was a huge success. "This year's conditions were the hardest yet," said Duncan Wilbur, WaterAid's Corporate and Events manager. "Despite this, we had the most positive response we've ever had from festival goers. All our 130 volunteers were fantastic, and we'd like to thank them for their amazing efforts despite the dreadful weather!"

Volunteers looked after our revolutionary female urinals - the 'she pees' - worked hard maintaining the reputation of our African-style pit latrines as the cleanest loos on the site and gave out water near the Pyramid stage while a team of recyclers kept the bars litter free.

Around £20,000 was donated by festival goers and more than 10,000 signatures were collected for the End Water Poverty campaign over the weekend.

And those who watched Glastonbury coverage on TV will have seen the distinctive End Water Poverty flag and foam hands waving enthusiastically from the crowd.

Duncan adds, "WaterAid would like to thank Michael and Emily Eavis and all at Glastonbury for their fantastic support over the years as well as Millets, Yeo Valley and Ecover for their help in 2007."