A team from the Bath-based energy efficiency consultancy B:SSEC Ltd has completed a 70km hike across the Lake District to raise funds to tackle the on-going drought in East Africa.
The B:SSEC team, comprised of Paul Bennett, Wayne Ward and Chris Joyce, raised over £870 during last month’s trek for CAFOD, the official aid agency of the Catholic church.
The team spent three days trekking over 43 miles in the world-famous National Park, carrying all of their food and provisions and taking their water from natural sources.
Paul Bennett, Executive Chairman of B:SSEC, said: “We were tired and broken after three days of walking and the recovery took a while! But doing this in solidarity with desperately poor families who struggle to find clean water really helped us through the difficult uphill climbs.”
Now, having completed the walk in our target time and raised funds for water projects, we feel a great sense of achievement.
The group were inspired to embark on the fundraising hike by CAFOD’s work overseas with communities that lack access to clean water.
This has become a growing concern across East Africa as the region has suffered months of intense drought.
In Kenya, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia communities are facing starvation because of drought. Along with civil conflicts in the region, the UN has described the situation in East Africa as the largest humanitarian crisis in 70 years.
Climate change has contributed to the devastating drought being experienced across the region. Droughts are affecting over seven million people in Ethiopia, whilst two million are affected in the north of Kenya.
CAFOD is working with partner organisations across East Africa in order to provide water and sanitation. In South Sudan, CAFOD is helping to bring water and sanitation to communities that are facing outbreaks of cholera, caused by a lack of clean water.
The funds raised by Paul and the team at B:SSEC will help CAFOD to provide humanitarian relief and access to clean water in direct response to the East African crisis.
Elizabeth Baldwin, CAFOD’s representative in Bath expressed her gratitude on behalf of CAFOD.
She said: “It is wonderful to hear about the great work that B:SSEC has done to raise money for CAFOD. The money raised will go to help communities like those in East Africa that are in dire need of emergency assistance.”
