Christian Aid Encourages Kids to 'Flush Out Poverty'

Christian Aid is launching a new fundraising pack in March 2007 for five to 16-year-olds designed to help 'flush out poverty'.

Flush, aimed at schools and youth groups, is about toilets and water, where kids are encouraged to celebrate their toilets and raise money for Christian Aid's overseas health and sanitation programmes.

There are around one billion people in the world who do not have access to clean water, according to Christian Aid. Every year 6,000 children die of diseases like typhoid and cholera and from the diarrhoea such infections cause - all as a result of dirty water and inadequate toilet and washing facilities.

Schools and youth groups are being asked to decorate their toilets for a day and charge everyone for the privilege of using them.

The fundraising initiative includes a competition for the 'best-dressed school loos' in the land in the Toilet Transformation Challenge, fundraising ideas, a poster to chart progress, fascinating water facts and examples of children's water stories from across the world.

"We want to encourage kids to spend some pennies when they need to spend a penny," said Nicola Inson, schools programme manager at Christian Aid. "It all adds up. For example if 300 people use the toilet 3 times a day at a charge of 20p a go, that's £180 in one day. £180 could pay for pumps, pipes and tap stands to bring fresh water to four villages in Nicaragua."

Extra resources will be available online for teachers and youth leaders at www.christianaid.org.uk/learn which is being re-launched on 12 March 2007. The re-worked site will offer teachers and youth workers new fundraising ideas and activities throughout the year as well as the opportunity to order DVDs and CD-Roms as part of the government's new e-learning scheme. Kids can log on to www.globalgang.org.