Major donors

Thank you to Lend Lease for their generous donation to the 2012 Oxfam Water Appeal.

Lend Lease

Thanks also to Tonkin and Taylor and AWT Water for their kind support.

Save lives like Gande's today

Gande Bebi
You can save lives like Gande's by helping villages in Papua New Guinea access safe and clean water.

Dirty water will kill 368 people in the next six weeks in Papua New Guinea.

It's a dilemma no mother should have to face: risk her children's health using dirty water or have no water at all. Gande's mother, Bebi Samuel, faces this dilemma on a daily basis.

You can save lives like Gande's by helping villages in Papua New Guinea access safe and clean water.

Just $35 can go towards a new tap stand providing a water source for five families.

One per cent of New Zealanders' water

Gande and her family get less than one per cent of the water the average New Zealander uses daily. The water Bebi collects is dirty and causes illness in her family.

Because water is in such short supply, there isn't always enough for washing and cleaning. Clothes, bedding and food rarely get washed – worsening the family's health.

In the wet season, it takes 10 minutes to walk to the village water source but it's a trickle, and sharing it between 2500 people often means there are waits of up to two hours to fill the family's containers. In the dry season, Bebi must make the trek down a steep valley path to the polluted Wahgi River. Carrying water, wet clothes and children means the climb back can take eight or nine hours.

The path to health

"There's no water to wash. Everyone is dirty, so we've normally got diarrhoea. We waste all our time getting water. If we can have access to water, the more time we can spend farming. We can become clean”
– Samuel Mua, Gande's father

Although still suffering from a lack of safe water, Gande's village has already seen big improvements with Oxfam's help. Toilets have been built and our specialists in health and hygiene have conducted training sessions for the community. This has had a remarkable effect and waterborne illnesses are on the decline.

Other villages in the Highlands have not been as fortunate. Without your help they cannot protect themselves from avoidable illness and death.

You have an opportunity to help.

Watch Bebi's story

What you can do

Dirty water
Gande's mother Bebi adds dirty water to a cooking pot full of greens and sweet potatoes. A lack of access to clean water means unsanitary cooking conditions.

Be part of the solution. Work with Bebi and other families in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea to create a healthier and more sustainable future.

You can save lives like Gande's. Your donation can equip villages with easier access to clean water, hygiene and sanitation.

Give:

Oxfam's water and sanitation experts are the best in the world (our technologies are used by both the United Nations and the Red Cross) so you can be sure our solutions will last.

See Bebi and Gande's story


The difference you will make

Bebi Samuel and villagers collect water
Bebi and her daughter Gande wait in line to collect water from a spring. In the wet season the spring serves 2,500 people. In the dry season it dries up, meaning a long trek to a dirty river.

By making a donation towards this work, you are saving lives and transforming villages.

Rather than suffering from constant and life-threatening illnesses, villagers will be healthy and able to work and go to school. This will create a more safe and sustainable future.

Be part of the solution, make a donation today.

 

 

A march of solidarity

In a show of solidarity with people across the Pacific who don't have many of life's basics, Barry Coates, the Executive Director of Oxfam New Zealand, along with Oxfam staff and supporters from PNG and Tonga, walked up Auckland's Queen Street carrying jerry cans of water, big sacks of vegetables and clothes packed into bilums (hand woven bags from PNG) as they slowly made their way up Queen Street. Watch the video here.

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