Church harvest sows seeds of hope in Ethiopia

St John the Baptist Church in Burscough, with the help of 3 local primary schools, has raised over £4500 this harvest to help the charity WaterAid. The money will be used to support the 'Seeds of Hope' appeal, helping to establish clean water projects throughout drought stricken Ethiopia.

Church Curate Ian Greenwood said: "It's been an amazing response to our Harvest Appeal this year. We are truly humbled by people's generosity and their willingness to give to this good cause. By working with our three primary schools, the community have really made a difference for many people living in Africa.

We encouraged the schools and our congregations to think about those who don't have safe water or sanitation – things that we take for granted in this country. 4,000 children die every day due to diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation, and this is totally unacceptable."

3 local primary schools, Lordsgate, St John's, and the Village Primary, also got involved with the appeal. The school children helped to raise money in a variety of ways. Children from The Village Primary linked up with the ethical bathroom products company Lush to develop new bathroom products as part of the school's science week project. The children designed, developed and packaged a new 'BLush' (Burscough Lush) range – which they sold for £2 each at a school sales event to raise a total of £412.

Lordsgate school raised £455 through their 'Blue Day', when all children could come to school dressed in blue or in a water themed costume. All years then completed various investigative projects looking at the importance of water. St. John's Primary held a Water Aid Wellies Day, with all children paying £1 to come to school in their wellingtons, and then teams competed in different water related challenges throughout the day, raising £220.

Ian Greenwood continued: "By raising these funds we will be helping to change the lives of some of the world's poorest people. As a church we set ourselves a target to raise £1500, enough to provide all the materials and the construction of a hand dug well, and training for a pump attendant, which would provide fresh clean drinking water for a community in Ethiopia. The response has been so overwhelming that we can now provide three wells for three different communities. Countless peoples lives will be changed for the better. We praise God that through this Harvest appeal some of the worlds poorest people will be given a better quality of life".

The WaterAid initiative is backed by the Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu who said: "By supporting this appeal we are helping the very poorest people to take their first steps out of poverty."

WaterAid is hoping that the national appeal will raise around £125,000 from collections and suppers across the country. For more information please visit: www.wateraid.org/harvest

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