<p><span style="color: #003366;">As you may or may not know, as part of the student run charity BVDA this summer I am spending <em>7</em> weeks volunteering in a rural Ugandan village. There is a group of 6 of us going out there, and we will be living within the village, as the locals do, sleeping in a mud hut, with no running water or electricity.</span></p> <p><span style="color: #003366;"><br /></span></p> <p><span style="color: #003366;">Working alongside the charity <a title="Little BIG Africa " href="http://www.littlebigafrica.org/" target="_blank">Little BIG Africa</a></span><span style="color: #003366;">&nbsp;we will be carrying out a low-cost but essential project specially designed to meet the needs of the community. These we will be:</span></p> <p><span style="color: #003366;"><br /></span></p> <p><span style="color: #003366;"><strong><em> Building an&nbsp;10,000 litre water tank </em></strong>for a primary school so that pupils (especially girls) don't have to skip lessons for collecting water.</span></p> <p><strong><span style="color: #003366;"><br /></span></strong></p> <p><span style="color: #003366;"><em><strong>Protecting a water source</strong>, </em>which ensure's that the village's water supply is clean, safe and kept running all year round.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="color: #003366;"><br /></span></p> <p><span style="color: #003366;"><span><strong><em>Building&nbsp;fuel efficient stoves</em></strong>&nbsp;because wood, the material used for cooking, is becoming a scarce resource.&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p><span style="color: #003366;"><span><br /></span></span></p> <p><span style="color: #003366;"><span><em>&nbsp;</em></span><strong><em>Teaching life-saving lessons in hygiene and water safety</em></strong>, so that the benefits of the new clean water facilities are maximised. </span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="color: #003366;">I'm really looking forward to the trip- it should be an amazing experience and eye-opener. But it's not all about me!</span><span style="color: #003366;">Before I go I need to raise &pound;700, which will go straight to the charity. This money will cover the materials needed for the construction work; all my personal costs (flights, vaccinations, visas...) I'm paying myself.&nbsp;</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="color: #003366;">So the big event coming up is:</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="color: #003366;"><strong><em>Bristol 10K Run 15th May</em></strong></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="color: #003366;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">I would really appreciate it if you could donate anything at all; you can sponsor me for the run (I'm going to need all the encouragement I can get!) or give just generally to the charity.&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; color: #003366;"><br /></span></p> <p><span style="color: #003366;">Thanks for reading :)</span></p> <p><span style="color: #003366;">&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #003366; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Remember- every little helps!</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="color: #003366;"><em>JustGiving is &nbsp;a really easy, totally secure way to donate to charity, and means that Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer.&nbsp;</em></span></p> <p><span style="color: #003366;"><em>For more information email me at mh0362@bristol.ac.uk, or visit the <a title="BVDA Website" href="http://bristolvols.wordpress.com/uganda/." target="_blank">BVDA website</a></em></span></p>