Pupils come together to support the WEE BOX

Use your SCIAF WEE BOX to make a BIG CHANGE!  

That’s the message from school pupils showed their support for SCIAF and communities around the world in need of clean water. 

Lent is 40 days of reflection, fasting, and prayer leading up to Easter. Each year generous Scots up and down the country give up a favourite treat such as coffee, chocolate, wine or crisps during Lent and put the money they save into a SCIAF WEE BOX.   

Supporters also hold fundraising events in their schools and parishes and take on personal challenges to raise money. They then donate whatever they raise at Easter to provide a hand-up to vulnerable communities worldwide, struggling to survive due to hunger, poverty, conflict and the climate emergency.   

SCIAF’s Ben Wilson said:

“This year our WEE BOX Appeal focusses on water. In Scotland we are blessed with some of the finest drinking water in the world. We bathe in it, use it for cooking, and drink as much as we want, whenever we want. We take it for granted that it will always be there.  

“Water is life. But for many, it’s dangerously scarce.   In Ethiopia, where I visited recently, far too many women, girls and boys still have to walk for hours every day under the scorching sun. For many young people, this means missed days at school, often getting sick from dirty water, and in some places in Ethiopia taking their lives in their hands on their daily trip for water.” 

However, thanks to the generosity of people across Scotland, SCIAF has been funding local organisations in Ethiopia to bring clean water to communities and help people help themselves out of poverty. 

Collette Watson, head teacher at St Mark’s Primary, Hamilton said:

“It’s a really worthwhile cause and although we have our WEE BOX appeal and raise money for charity, it’s much more than that. The children get to learn where the WEE BOX collection goes and what it can do in terms of helping others.

“As a school, our family values encompass everything SCIAF and the WEE BOX are about.”

A big thank you to all the wonderful schools that support the WEE BOX Appeal every year.