WHY ARE WE WALKING THIS LENT?
Your sponsorship can and will change lives. Every £1 raised through the Big Lent Walk will help to bring life-saving water to communities in places like Ethiopia and Peru. Communities like Mortikana's.
Mortikana, 70, lives in a rural community in southern Ethiopia. Her village did not have access to a water source and Mortikana and other women from her community were forced to walk for six hours every day to collect clean water.
Thankfully, CAFOD and a local expert organisation focusing on women’s empowerment, built a cement water cistern with enough capacity for the whole of Mortikana’s village. The cement structure ensures that the water doesn’t evaporate. It’s located close to the village meaning Mortikana and other women no longer have to walk for hours for water.
‘Us women have more time to care for our families now that the water source is next to our village’ says Mortikana. ‘I can look after my children at home and send them to school with water to keep them hydrated and focused. They are clean every day now. We all are.’ she adds.
Now that her family’s basic need has been met, Mortikana is hopeful about the future. ‘With water secured, I can focus on income generation. My children’s life will be better than mine, more stable and happier’ she told us.
With your hard work and sponsorship this Lent, we can change families' lives for good and tell poverty to take a hike.
ABOUT THE WALK
You can walk the 200km in any way you like. Are you a speed walker, a dog walker or a slow stroller? Whatever type of walker you are, get outside and enjoy your local area.
The Big Lent Walk is a great challenge to share with others, so why not ask friends and family to join you on your walk. Maybe you could get your parish involved too. They might be so inspired that they sign up as well! Point them to this page and they can Sign up here!
We're so excited that you are getting involved in the Big Lent Walk this Lent, we hope it will be an amazing experience for you and really enhance your Lent, both physically and spiritually. Remember your efforts and prayers will be helping people like Mortikana access clean water and build a better world.
ABOUT US: WHO ARE CAFOD AND SCIAF?
CAFOD and SCIAF are the official relief and development agencies of the Catholic Church for England and Wales (CAFOD) and for Scotland (SCIAF), and we are both members of the global Caritas Internationalis family.
We both believe that a green and just world, free from poverty, is possible. We are teaming up because we know that working together means that we can make an ever bigger difference.
Our goal: to get thousands of teams or individual walkers to join together, walking and fundraising and raising awareness of inequality across the world. Together means big change can happen.
The money you raise by taking part in the Big Lent Walk will enable us to continue fighting global poverty and working through expert local partners to bring real life change to communities overseas.
