The Christmas Bowl

Water and Soap from the Christmas Bowl

It is nearly time to start thinking again about Christmas Bowl giving. Last Christmas an amazing $2.5 million was given by Australians through the Bowl. It has been called "a bridge of love and compassion between those who have enough and those who have too little".

Your gifts support life-giving projects in many needy places around the world. One major project made possible by last year's giving was in Ethiopia. The people living in the Akula Refugee Camp in Ethiopia have fled terrible conflict in Southern Sudan. Without simple necessities like soap, toilets and clean water, they are at risk from deadly diseases like Hepatitis E.

Thanks to Australia's Christmas Bowl, the old unsanitary toilets that were attracting flies and disease have been cleared away and new toilet blocks with hand washing facilities have been built in their place. The camp's broken water pump has also been repaired, meaning that families can now access safe, clean water. Each family has also received soap to keep their hands clean and prevent disease.

Many people in Akula Camp never had the chance to go to school and were never taught about hygiene, so our gifts are training refugees in basic hygiene and sanitation to keep their families safe from disease.

from Act for Peace magazine 'The Link', Summer 2016