No uniform appeal to aid Third World

SCHOOL kids can help bring water and life to children in the poorest parts of the world simply by wearing no uniforms next month.

The UNICEF Kids Helping Kids Campaign asks pupils who come to school in their normal clothes on October 21 to contribute €2.

It is hoped to raise at least €150,000 which will be spent on helping to provide clean water and sanitation in the Third World.

“A child under five dies every 21 seconds from diarrhoeal diseases, that’s 1.9 million children a year. At least 20 litres, or about two buckets, of safe water per day are essential to enable children to drink, wash hands of disease-bearing dirt and cook a simple meal,” said UNICEF Ireland’s fundraising manager Anne Marie Foran.

“Without it, children become easy prey for a host of life-threatening afflictions that carry in dirty water and on unwashed fingers,” she said.

The money raised by the campaign, supported by Deep RiverRock water, will go a long way to help children at risk.

A sachet of oral re-hydration salts which will save a child’s life when mixed with safe water is just 6c, while €20 will buy enough water purification tablets to give 16 children their daily water needs.

UNICEF points out that more than 2.6 billion people live without basic sanitation facilities, while one billion still use unsafe drinking water sources.

UNICEF Non-Uniform Day packs, with tips, stories and information, are available from UNICEF Ireland 1850 767 999, or at www.unicef.ie.