Sink hauled to top of Campsie Fells to flag up water poverty
A charity worker has hauled a ceramic sink up a range of volcanic hills near Glasgow to highlight the struggles of the world's poorest people to access safe water.
Ian Dunn from the S cottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) scaled the Campsie Fell sand posed in freezing conditions in a bathrobe.
The charity' s communications officer pulled the stunt as he helped launch SCIAF'S Christmas appeal to combat water poverty, which affects one in ten people worldwide.
Mr Dunn, 39, from Kirkintilloch, said: "Lugging this sink up the Campsies was absolutely knacker ingbutsom any people around the world have to make much harder journeys ever y day simply to get clean water and survive.
"It was a real reminder of how fortunate we are in this country."
He added: "This year espe - cially, we all know how vital it is to wash our hands with soap and water. Yet every time I hear this, I can't help thinking of families in the world's poorest countries who do not have any other choice but to walk for hours to collect what is often dangerous, bacteriaridden water.
"It's a tragedy, especially as I've seen first-hand how simple it can be, even in the poorest countries, to ensure access to clean, safe water."
The money raised from the appeal will help to renovate wells, install water pumps, and provide water filters to poor households.
SC IA F director of public engagement Penelope Blackwell said: "Water is the most basic and most essential ele - ment for life. Yet for families living in places like southern Ethiopia, clean, accessible water is a dream beyond anything they can hope for.
"This year has been difficult for all of us but with any crisis the world's poorest people are hit hardest and climate change and the pandemic are killing the poorest first. Now, more than ever, everyone needs safe, accessible water.
"Scottish people are known to be out ward looking and compassionate.
"This Christmas, I urge people to think again of the many unimaginably poor families who are struggling to survive and help provide the simple gift of safe water."
The sink was acquired from a staff member who was remodelling their bathroom and was taken off the hill and safely disposed of.
The United Nations has said the corona virus pa nd emic is pushing the number of people worldwide who need humanitarian assistance to survive to new highs, dramatically increasing the ranks of extreme poverty in just one year. One in 33 people will need aid to meet basic needs like food, water and sanitation in 2021- an increase of 40 per cent from this year, the UN reported in its Global Humanitarian Overview 2021.
That equates to 235 million people worldwide, with concentrations in Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia, it said. UN SecretaryGeneral António Gut err es said: "Humanitarian aid budgets face dire shortfalls as the impact of the global pandemic continues to worsen."
To donate to SCIAF'S appeal visit sciaf.org.uk/