Wimbledon Foundation Partners with WaterAid for Droplets of Dreams Campaign
July 9, 2021
In January 2020, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus cited the absence of water, toilets and soap as among the most urgent global challenges of this decade. Believing that people cannot fulfil their full potential and dreams without access to clean water, the Wimbledon Foundation and WaterAid have teamed up to address the issue.
WaterAid announced a three-year partnership with the Wimbledon Foundation back in 2018, to help change people's lives with clean water. According to WaterAid, one in ten children don’t have clean water close to home, meaning millions of children spend hours each day walking to collect it, leaving little time for their education. Up to 443 million school days are lost every year because of water-related illnesses, and 800 children die every day from diseases caused by dirty water and poor sanitation. With clean water, children can stay healthy and in school, helping them to reach their potential.
Bruce Weatherill, Chairman of the Wimbledon Foundation, said: "Childhood is supposed to be a time to learn, play and dream about the future. But many children around the world are being held back from fulfilling their dreams by a lack of clean water. Through our ongoing partnership with WaterAid, the Wimbledon Foundation is championing clean water for healthy lives; freeing women and children from the burden of collecting water; and giving them an equal chance of being healthy, educated and able to reach their true potential."
For this year's campaign, the partners asked children around the world to share their dreams for the future and in a post-pandemic world. These dreams, collected from Pakistan, Colombia, Malawi and Ethiopia - where WaterAid works - have been brought to life in six dioramas encased in glass droplets. This collection named ‘Droplets of Dreams’ has been photographed around London as a reminder that all children, wherever they have been born, should have the chance to fulfil their dreams and clean water shouldn’t be an obstacle.
The Championships, Wimbledon are currently underway through 12 July. British tennis player Heather Watson, who was part of this year's tournament, joined the initiative to help two girls from London fulfil their dream of playing tennis at Wimbledon, whilst highlighting the importance of clean water in unlocking the futures and potential of children around the world.
14-year-old Ysehult and 7-year-old Annabel are members of the Wimbledon Junior Tennis Initiative (WJTI), a local community coaching programme set up to encourage children to play tennis. The girls were winners of a Wimbledon Foundation competition, in which they shared their dreams of becoming professional tennis players.
Tim Wainwright, Chief Executive of WaterAid, said: “In a year where communities have been brought to a standstill by the global pandemic, the role of clean water has never been more important. Clean water, handwashing and good hygiene are key to combatting the spread of COVID-19 - as well as other infectious diseases – and is vital to these children and their communities in leading healthy lives.”
The Wimbledon Foundation is donating £1.2 million over a period of three years to help WaterAid make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for communities in four countries - Ethiopia, Malawi, Madagascar and Myanmar - supporting WaterAid’s work in health centres, schools and communities.