The North-East's water company is spearheading a drive to provide clean water for the some of the poorest people in the developing world. A resource taken for granted in the western world is in short supply in parts of the impoverished west African nation of Malawi. Northumbrian Water, through its charity WaterAid, is helping to provide the first clean water supply to villages in the landlocked former British protectorate. The firm's communications and public relations manager, Alistair Baker, led a fact-finding mission to Malawi earlier this year. He subsequently collected a Prince of Wales' Award for outstanding voluntary contribution, furthering the efforts of WaterAid. This is his account of the mission and the WaterAid project

BEAMING smiles on the faces of thousands of children is the enduring memory of Malawi.

Their parents were smiling too, and, they were all singing and dancing.

Yet these people in Africa are among the poorest in the world, their country is ravaged with disease and famine and their villages decimated by HIV Aids.

They are lucky if they have any clothes to wear, food to eat and a roof to sleep under.

But everywhere we went we were greeted by broad smiling faces. They were the smiles of either gratitude or hope.

Smiles of gratitude for the life-saving work of the charity WaterAid, which has transformed their lives by providing something we all take for granted.

Or, smiles of hope, that it would be their turn next to receive that vital help to provide clean safe water and sanitation, to open the door to the prospect of a proper life.

We turn on the tap and pull the chain and expect top quality drinking water will flow and toilet waste will be disposed of out of sight and out of mind.

But, for more than a billion people in the world's poorest countries, the lack of clean water and safe sanitation is literally a matter of life and death.

In Malawi, four million people have no clean water and seven million, more than half the population, have no decent sanitation.

Diseases like cholera, caused by dirty water, are rife.

A child dies every 15 seconds in the developing world from disease caused by dirty water, and yet it costs just £15 to provide clean water, safe sanitation and hygiene education for someone there for their entire life.

That is where the independent international charity WaterAid comes in, working in Africa, Asia and the South Pacific.

WaterAid is Northumbrian Water's adopted charity and I organised a fact-finding mission to Malawi to witness the plight of these fantastically friendly people, and to see how the charity has already made such a difference where its projects have been completed.

Without a safe source of water close to their homes family life is dictated by the daily struggle to find water and carry it home.

Imagine putting a drum weighing 20 kilos on your head, the suitcase weight-limit for a flight, and carrying it many miles back to your home.

Imagine the despair because you also know, that although the water is vital for life, it is unclean and will probably make your children sick. That is a choice no one should have to endure.

Sick people get sicker, children are unable go to school and mothers can do little other than concentrate on the daily struggle for water.

The trip to Malawi earlier this year was to raise awareness of the work of WaterAid and to launch an additional fundraising appeal.

Among our party was Kevan Jones, the North Durham MP, and regional journalists.

Early in the new year, the fundraising committee working in the North-East and aiming to raise some £150,000 annually, will celebrate successfully passing the £2m-mark in ten years.

The additional Malawi "Water is Life" appeal now stands at about £60,000, enough to provide about 25 wells serving, and saving the lives of about 12,500 people in Malawi.

Through the auspices of Mr Jones we have also been able to meet Chancellor Gordon Brown and Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State for International Development, to establish a Government-backed partnership.

It will facilitate Northumbrian Water personnel being seconded to work in Malawi, providing strategic support and water knowledge to deliver sustainable projects for the future.

During last year, the work of the Northumbria committee was recognised when I was presented with The President HRH The Prince of Wales' Award for Outstanding Voluntary Contributions to WaterAid.

Although it was gratifying to receive individual recognition it was really a tribute to the great team in the North-East who believe passionately in the charity and work tirelessly for the cause.

And, nowhere was the vital work of WaterAid more obvious than in the Malawian settlement of Nkhwali.

Village elder James Chunga summed up life in Nkhwali.

"We say that we have a second chief in our village, and that is cholera. It is in charge of all our lives.

"We have more journeys going to the clinic than we do to the market.

"I have lived in Nkhwali for 63 years and the lack of clean water has always been a problem.

"There is a high risk of cholera and dysentery, especially for our children.

"We are very poor people and we have many problems, but the greatest problem of all is water."

James is 63, but average life expectancy in Malawi is only 39 years.

* Donations to the Malawi Water is Life Appeal can be sent to Julie Wilson, at Northumbria WaterAid, Abbey Road, Pity Me, Durham, DH1 5FJ.

Cheques should be made payable to WaterAid Northumbria.

For further information about the charity visit: www.wateraid.org.uk