Lent is a time for giving up small luxuries in life. But imagine if you had to give up more important things – education, employment or hope for the future. All because you do not have clean water close to home.
This is the reality for 1 in 9 people around the world. Hours spent collecting water, or days wasted from ill health, means children miss out on school and parents cannot work.
For children especially, clean water can be the difference between a full education and struggling to keep up in class. The difference between enjoying a happy childhood with friends, or risking your life on long walks for water.
See what you can do by giving something up...
Giving up a chocolate bar a day could be enough money for water quality testing for two water points in communities like Chiswe.
(A chocolate or candy bar at $1.25 a day amounts to $50 over Lent)
Not buying a cup of coffee every morning could save enough money for the digging and laying of 1 kilometer of water pipes.
(A coffee at $1.80 a day amounts to $72 over Lent)
Every packet of cookies you don't buy could buy a new tap in Malawi. So you could provide 40 taps over the period of Lent.
(A packet of cookies at $1 amounts to one tap)
Avoiding potato chips could save enough money for a hygiene promotion session in a community like Chiswe.
(A bag of chips at $1.50 a day amounts to $60 over Lent)
Hold a Lenten concert
This Lent, we are inviting churches to organize a Lenten concert. You can even pledge to learn and perform a traditional song from Nigeria called Ise Oluwa. We've supplied the audio in every range, together with the lyrics and score, which you can download below.
Ise Oluwa ©Una May/Quincy Jones/Letta Mbulu