FACT!

I really love facts – not just those useless one that don’t change anything but all facts. And occasionally you hear a different breed of facts. Some that dazzle, some that confuse, some that elicit an immediate counter fact from the listener. Some facts are carry such illuminating truth that they become the catalyst for all kinds of emotions; encouragement, anger, healing or challenge to name but a few.

Here are a few facts that have challenged me this week;

• 2.6 billion people across the world don’t have somewhere safe to go to the toilet (WHO / UNICEF)
• Bad sanitation is one of the world’s biggest killers: it hits women, children, old and sick people hardest (TEARFUND)
• Every minute, three children under the age of five die because of dirty water and poor sanitation (WHO)
• Right now, more than 50 per cent of hospital beds in developing countries are filled with people who have an illness caused by poor sanitation or dirty water (UNDP)
• In Africa, half of young girls who drop out of school do so because they need to collect water – often from many miles away – or because the school hasn’t go a basic toilet (TEARFUND)
• The lack of a loo makes women and girls a target for sexual assault as they go to the toilet in the open, late at night (VARIOUS)
• Many women get bitten by snakes as they squat in the grass to go to the toilet (VARIOUS)
• For every £1 spent on a water and sanitation programme, £8 is returned through saved time, increased productivity and reduced health costs. (UNDP)
• In 2000, 189 countries signed up to the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. The sanitation target for 2015 is currently way off-target and won’t be met in sub-Sharan African until the 23rd century (TEARFUND).

Opening a new toilet and water project at one of The SA's rural schools

Lack of access to clean water and effective sanitation impacts the health of a community as well as their ability to develop economically. Water projects are not just about providing water - they are about empowering a community. That's why water plays such an important part in our plans for developing projects for The Salvation Army in Kenya.