Cindy, 17, lives in the harsh desert region of La Guajira, Colombia, where water is extremely scarce. She and her mother walk up to three hours every day, fetching water in the blistering heat.
The relentless task of collecting water makes Cindy, late for school, so she misses classes. When she arrives at school, she is already tired and drained. Around the world, her story is being repeated over and over. Without clean water, girls are losing out on time, health and education.
Clean water removes danger and exhaustion...and gives girls safety and hope. Donate today to help girls like Cindy.
We waste so much time going to get water. This is how it is here for girls."
Cindy, Colombia
WaterAid are working to help provide resilient and sustainable clean water for communities, to reach girls like Cindy in the most challenging environments.
When you help a community get clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene, it’s girls and women whose lives can change the most.
“We are used to it, but going to look for water for hours on end every single day in the blistering desert heat definitely isn’t easy,” Remedio, Cindy's mother, Colombia.
“In the evenings, when I want to play with my friends or help with other chores, I am left to fetch water sometimes late into the night.” Rafiat, 12, Nigeria
"We come to school with bottles of water, and the thought of where I will go to get water after I finish this makes me lose concentration in class." Grace, 16, Malawi
With clean water near home and school, girls get back hours of their day, have better health, and can go to school. With these three things, they can break free from poverty and change their lives for good.
About WaterAid
WaterAid has teams in 28 countries across the world, working with our partners to transform millions of lives every year by improving access to clean water, toilets and hygiene.
Since 1981, we’ve reached over 27 million people with clean water. But we can’t stop there.
In the last 43 years, we’ve gone from strength to strength to become one of the most respected organisations dealing solely with water, sanitation and hygiene issues.
What do WaterAid do?
While installing taps and toilets is essential to our work, we do so much more. We convince governments to change laws, link policy makers with people on the ground, pool knowledge and resources and rally support from people and organisations around the world, making lasting change happen on a massive scale.
Why regular donations matter
Regular gifts provide us with sustainable income so we can plan projects and commit to helping more people. We’ll use your donations to transform lives in the best way we can. in 2023, 73% of expenses went directly to our work.
