Lessons from Michiru School

It was no ordinary Monday morning this week. I spent it along with Kate Smith and Hilary Friel visiting Michiru School in Malawi to see the Aramark/BBC Playpump in action.

For me the visit went far too quickly, but once again I was stunned by the welcome we got - the 1,500 school children and 26 teachers had been preparing for our visit for ages!

I intend to write a more detailed report of the visit when I get back but I wanted to share with you the phrase that sums up the visit for me. It's buzzing around my head like an angry bumble bee. It's a very simple three words used as part of the Headmaster's speech of thanks: WATER IS LIFE.

In the UK we have an abundance of the stuff but did you ever stop to consider how you would manage if no water came out of the taps and you had to spend hours fetching it from a local well?

The visit showed us how the One Water initiative is crucial in helping these communities have access to water, changing lives of people in Africa.