Paralympic gold medallist, ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ star, and broadcaster Ellie Simmonds has shared special moments of her inspiring life through the lens of water in a powerful new film for WaterAid.
Just launched, the touching film features some never-before-seen footage of Ellie as a young girl, from learning to swim and playing with water, through to her career-defining moments as a gold medal-winning swimmer at the Paralympic Games, highlighting the many opportunities water can bring. The film is part of WaterAid’s ‘Where there’s water’ winter appeal, which highlights the positive changes clean water brings and aims to raise money to help more people get access to this basic human right.
Ellie has been a WaterAid ambassador for over a decade, since seeing the devastating impact a lack of clean water has on people’s lives during an inspiring trip to Uganda. Alongside the memories, Ellie emotionally narrates from a studio: “Where’s there’s water, there’s a child with a dream, possibility, hope, and a path ahead.
“Where there’s water, there’s powerful change, confidence, and progress. Where’s there’s water, there’s spirit, passion and triumph over adversity. Where there’s water, there’s joy, love, pride and life. Where there’s water, there’s a way.”
Across the world, nearly 702 million people – that’s 1 in 10 people – do not have clean water close to home. Without this basic resource a ripple of problems can occur.
Women and children spend hours collecting dirty water, often missing out on an education, people’s dreams and plans to earn a better livelihood are put on hold, and families are put at more risk of deadly diseases. But the ripple can go both ways.
Where there’s water, children can go to school, businesses can thrive, and communities can live free from the constant threat of disease. In Chinganji, Malawi, 15-year-old Merifa’s life changed for good when she got clean water close to her home.
Now she has more time to study and join her beloved choir. She has also set up a business with her sister making samosas that they sell to help provide an income for their family. Merifa said: “Because we know that the water is near our home, we can go draw water and still have enough time to make our samosas and also go for choir practice.
“Our grades have improved too because we’re spending most of our time studying instead of going to draw water.” Jennie York, Executive Director of Communications and Fundraising, WaterAid, said: “Ellie’s story and the memories she’s so kindly shared with us highlight the amazing things that can be achieved when there’s clean water.
“Families can protect their health, children can focus on school and hobbies, communities can thrive, and dreams can come true. It’s easy for us to take clean water for granted when we have it readily available on tap at home.
“Our lives would be very different without access to this basic human right, but that’s the reality facing one in ten people around the world. We’re so grateful to Ellie for highlighting the power of water through her eyes while supporting our ‘Where there’s water’ winter appeal to raise money to change more lives with clean water.”
WaterAid is an international not-for-profit determined to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere within a generation. They work alongside communities in 22 countries to secure these three essentials that transform people’s lives.
Since 1981, WaterAid UK and its Country Programmes have reached 29 million people with clean water and 29 million people with decent toilets.
