Young London singers join with Malawian choir in new film, supporting WaterAid’s clean water campaign
Download photo View horizontal film View vertical filmMore than 50 young singers from London are showing their solidarity with children from the Matamando choir from Chinganji in Malawi by singing one of their songs in an inspiring film to help raise money for WaterAid.
The song, which the Matamando choir regularly perform at church and community events, featured in a film as part of a campaign launched by the charity, called ‘Where there’s water’.
The name of the song is ‘Ndalimbana Nako’, which translates to "I’ve struggled with", and expresses gratitude for blessings like family, talent and overcoming difficult times.
Delina,16, who sings with the Islington Music Centre London, said:
“When I was watching the video we got sent, it looked really lively, I remember how beautiful the harmonies were and I was excited to start singing them.”
Her choirmaster and founder of the centre based in Islington and Southwark, Richard Frostick said:
“They are singing in Chichewa, with a completely different set of vowels and consonants and we want to do that justice. If you don’t tell people that something is difficult, they very often won’t find it difficult, so I just said ’sing this’ and they sang it. Extraordinary really. And then we did some tweaks so that we could try and get as close to the sound the Malawi choir are making. Then the children started to fall in love with the music.”
WaterAid has been working with the community in Malawi to install clean water taps. However, more than half the families still do not have clean water, meaning many children and women are spending hours collecting water from unsafe sources like wells, leaving little time for education and work, or following their interests like singing in a choir.
Some of the funds raised by the ‘Where there’s water’ campaign will be spent on ensuring everyone in the community has clean water close to where they live.
The London based singers are part of a wider group called ‘Sing for Water’ which is made up of more than 500 people in support of WaterAid and since 2002 has raised almost £1.5 million for the charity.
ENDS
Katherine Roberts, Senior Media Officer, [email protected] or Laura Crowley, Senior PR Manager, [email protected]. Or call WaterAid’s press line on 020 7793 4537, or email [email protected].
Notes to editors
About WaterAid
WaterAid is an international not-for-profit determined to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere within a generation. We work alongside communities in 22 countries to secure these three essentials that transform people’s lives. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached almost 29 million people with clean water, and over 29 million with decent toilets.
For more information, visit our website wateraid.org/uk; follow us on Twitter @WaterAidUK, @WaterAid or @WaterAidPress; or find us on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram.
- 703 million people in the world – almost one in ten – don’t have clean water close to home.
- 2.2 billion people in the world – more than one in four – don’t have safe water.
- Almost 2 billion people in the world – one in four – lack soap and/or water to wash their hands at home, if they have a place at all.
- 1.5 billion people in the world – almost one in five – don’t have a decent toilet of their own.
- 570 million people in the world – 1 in 14 – have a decent toilet but have to share it with people outside their family. This compromises the privacy, dignity and safety of women and girls.1
- Almost 400,000 children under five die every year due to diseases caused by unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene. That's more than 1000 children a day, or almost one child every one and a half minutes.2
- Investing in safely managed water, sanitation and hygiene services provides up to 21 times more value than it costs.3
1: WHO/UNICEF (2023), Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2022: special focus on gender (accessed 11 Jul 2023)
2: WHO (2023), Burden of disease attributable to unsafe drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene: 2019 update (accessed 24 Jul 2023)
3: WaterAid (2021), Mission-critical: Invest in water, sanitation and hygiene for a healthy and green economic recovery (accessed 1 Nov 2023).
