“Unlike most of his harebrained ideas, it wouldn’t go away. He knew that little ideas that tickled and nagged and refused to go away should never be ignored...for in them lie the seeds of destiny.”

(From the film Babe)

A crazy idea? Originally I referred to this project as my ‘crazy idea’. Who would dream of walking 4,000 miles, to a desert, mostly on their own? Was this even crazier than a fictional farmer’s fantasy that a pig would make a good sheepdog? OK, anything can happen in the realm of film, but my idea was for real - and despite attempts to dismiss it as sheer lunacy, it just wasn’t going away.

To think about it a different way - which is crazier, the idea of walking so far, or the startling fact that even in today’s ‘modern’ world more than a billion people have no access to clean water and have to walk a significant distance each day to get just a few litres and even then risk getting a life threatening illness by consuming it? Now this seems to me to be really crazy. Crazy that for all our resources and abilities so few people either really care about this situation or are prepared to translate it into actions that ultimately make a difference.

As a fresh faced idealistic teenager I believed I could change the world.
It didn’t take me too long to realise I was being a little naiive. But was the only option to give up altogether? No. The thing is to go about changing somebody’s world. That can make a real difference and, who knows, maybe they’ll go and change somebody’s world too, and before we know it together we will have silenced the weary cynics and ushered in a revolution of hope and a change for the better.

A journey A walk from the edge of Loch Lomond to the edge of the Sahara desert: Six countries, two continents and over 4,000 miles. Of course a walk like this is a heck of a journey, but walking4water is about more than just the physical achievement of this voyage. Much of the route follows old trails and ancient pilgrim routes. Roads that have been taken by thousands upon thousands of people throughout history, their outward journey often the expression of an inward quest. Walking 4 Water acknowledges that we are all on a journey, navigating our way through this often crazy spinning world, but that our shared humanity gives us the opportunity from time to time to walk some of the road together. If you are interested in walking some of this route with me then click here to contact me.

Advocacy Advocacy can be seen as a deliberate process of speaking out on issues of concern in order to exert some influence on behalf of ideas or persons. Being an advocate is to provide a voice for the voiceless and to bring about change particularly in areas of social injustice. walking4water wants to maximise the opportunity this journey will bring to speak out for those who are not being heard and to bang the justice drum in the fields and through the streets of cities of influence. 

A champion of Pump Aid Pump Aid have been working successfully in Sub Saharan Africa for over a decade providing sanitation and access to clean water for over a million people. walking4water is championing the work that Pump Aid are doing and aims to raise significant funds that will enable them to fulfil their goal of providing clean water to a further 8 million people by 2015. For more information on Pump Aid click here.

Fundraising "The economic costs of achieving the Millenium Development Goal drinking water and sanitation target are affordable; the human costs of failing to do so are not."
(World Health Organisation - WHO)

For walking4water to achieve its potential and for Pump Aid to continue their work money has to be repositioned. The wealth and the resources are there. It needs to be stewarded correctly with parity and justice as a matter of conscience and not individual or corporate power and greed. For more information on how to donate to walking4water or get involved in raising its profile click on the above link. 

Storytelling Everyone has a story to tell. Not just the rich and famous of Celebrityville! You and me and countless millions the world over, ordinary people, all have extraordinary stories waiting to be told. This walk will be part of my story, but will also be the story of encounters with you and your stories, it will also be the ongoing story of lives being changed through the work of Pump Aid. For a greater insight into ‘extraordinary stories from ordinary people’ and perhaps even an opportunity to publish one of yours visit www.storiesfromthestreet.com   

Justice Justice is a ‘fair distribution of benefits and burdens’.
It is a shocking global injustice that even with the technological and economic resources we have available, that the lives of whole communities are blighted, and their futures and livelihoods threatened because they cannot access clean water. The provision of clean water is a basic human right, the acquisition of it the first step away from disease and out of poverty. walking4water seeks to stand up for the rights of the oppressed and tackle this injustice literally ‘one step at a time’.