Knit a River Campaign

By Gerard Allt

Gerard Allt explains why WaterAid's campaign is so important and where the idea of knitting a river came from.

Water is a human right. WaterAid is the UK's only major charity dedicated exclusively to the provision of safe domestic water, sanitation and hygiene education to some of the world's poorest people. I am humbled and inspired by the work that WaterAid does and by the people who generously give money to WaterAid to enable their work in 17 countries in Africa and Asia.

In the past 25 years WaterAid has helped 10 million of the world's poorest people gain access to safe water and sanitation. For a long time I felt proud to be part of those people who help.

It is truly frightening to think that, although WaterAid do fantastic work they are restricted by funds. There are over 1 billion people without access to safe water and over 2.5 billion people without basic sanitation. If we can only help 10 million people a year it is unrealistic to think that we will achieve a world where everyone has safe water and sanitation.

I am involved in campaigning for WaterAid as I learned that Governments and World leaders can stop the hardship, misery and death if only enough of us were to tell them to act on our behalf.

I am (slightly) obsessed with knitting and I know well the generosity of knitters. In early 2006 I knew I needed to find a way to harness the good spirit of knitters everywhere and use it as a way to raise awareness of WaterAid. In a flash of inspiration, inspired by a pink WW2 tank cosy, we came up with Knit a river.

Neither I nor WaterAid were prepared for the level of interest and amount of support we have achieved in such a short time. It is difficult to express how grateful we are for the squares and the messages we get every day. Some parcels have contained up to 250 squares. They have poured in from all over the world and I love each and every one.

The river is massive. The massive job of sewing the squares together has begun and I am keen to get the river out and onto the street to fulfil its function of becoming the biggest most beautiful spectacle of the year; a spectacle which will demand attention and demand water and sanitation for all.

I am proud that I am a knitter; proud to be part of a community who cares about other people, a community who expresses themselves creatively. I am proud of the knitters who have contributed to the river and supported this campaign.

For further information go to www.wateraid.org or www.iknitlondon.com/knitariver.html
You can also read about the rivers progress at www.knitariver.blogspot.com