Introducing the Work of the J10:10 Charity

The J10:10 Charity was founded by Jonathan Bennion-Pedley to deliver vital education and healthcare to children in Uganda. Self-funded by Jon Bennion-Pedley for most of its life, J10:10 has been responsible for building both a hospital and a school, which it continues to operate.

The J10:10 charity works on numerous projects aimed at improving quality of life for people living in rural Africa, which include providing clean water and sanitation, healthcare, compassion and education.

The charity has a particular focus on empowering women through the provision of education for girls in aeras where this may otherwise be inaccessible. The infographic attachment looks at the statistics for female education in sub-Saharan Africa and the importance of educating girls.

Statistics for Female Education in Sub-Saharan Africa

Clean Water

In a time when most of the western world takes having access to clean, safe and convenient drinking water for granted, there are still over a billion people on the planet whop cannot say the same. For some, gaining access to clean water requires backbreaking journeys every single day, trekking through an inhospitable landscape to reach the nearest source.

For women and girls this journey can be even more perilous, as they run the very real risk of being attacked, assaulted or raped while being sent to fetch water. However, the only alternative to making this unsafe trip is to collect rainwater from puddles and pools which can be affected by animal faeces, which often results in people drinking contaminated water and becoming ill.

Many people in rural Africa die from drinking contaminated water. In fact, more children die from diarrhoea caused by drinking unsafe water than from AIDS and malaria combined. This is why it is essential for the health and progress of people in deprived areas of Africa to be given access to safe drinking water from sources that are close to home. J10:10 works to introduce rainwater harvesting tanks, water purification systems, fog harvesting and other technologies to ensure everyone has access to the basic human right that is clean drinking water.

More information on the practice of fog harvesting can be seen in the short video attachment to this post.

Sustainability: Introducing Fog Harvesting

Gender Equality

In Uganda, as in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, women have a lower social status than men, This is despite the fact that they typically work equally as hard as men, alongside maintaining the domestic side of life and taking sole responsibility for childcare, cooking, cleaning and other chores.

While changing the attitudes of adults is a long and arduous process, often with limited results, changing the beliefs of children has the potential to result in future generations that are more equal. The J10:10 charity operates a nursery and boarding house in which children are taught the values of equality and shown daily that, while there may be differences, we all have something to offer. By instilling values of equality at an early age, it is hoped that societies will begin to evolve as these children attain adulthood and in turn have more influence on their communities.

The PDF attachment looks at ways in which improving gender inequality can boost outcomes in terms of eradicating poverty.

How Improving Gender Inequality Can Help Eradicate Poverty

Medical Care

J10:10 has built a medical centre close to Kigazi Village in Uganda, which provides medical care to villagers in the surrounding region. This includes an out-patient department, maternity care, immunisation programmes, medicines, and other healthcare services. The six staff, housed in accommodation also provided by J10:10, are able to treat more than 500 patients a month and provide a safe environment for childbirth.