A SWINDON charity's two-year quest to supply water to a desert village in Pakistan has moved a step closer to becoming a reality thanks to an £89,000 grant.

The Future in Our Hands Education and Development Fund (FIOH) will use most of the money, from the Big Lottery Fund, to provide underground earthenware water tanks for 1,200 poor families living in the Thar Desert, one of the poorest regions in Asia.

Mike Thomas, chairman of FIOH, has always been troubled by world poverty so decided to do something to make a difference.

A retired civil engineer for Swindon Council, he started the charity with a group of friends in 1995.

He said: "I have been concerned about world poverty since I was young, and it makes me angry to know that it is international trade structures and finances which keep people poor.

"We set up the charity to try and give people from these areas the same sort of opportunities that we take for granted."

The urn-shaped water tanks, which have a capacity of 5,000 litres, will catch the monsoon rains and provide enough drinking water for the families during six months of the dry season.

Mr Thomas said: "We will receive the funding over the next four years, so we've already built 300 of the water tanks, because people are anxious to get them built before the monsoon season begins."

FIOH, which is working with the Participatory Village Development Programme organisation in Pakistan, will also provide families with fuel-efficient stoves and plant 30,000 fruit trees, along with 30,000 trees for fodder.

It will also offer materials and training for women to increase family incomes from embroidery crafts.

Mr Thomas said: "The other parts of the project will start as soon as possible, but supplying water to these people is the first priority.

"The health and incomes of all the families in the area will improve greatly if they don't have to migrate during periods of severe drought."

The charity also has projects in Cameroon, Sierra Leone, India, the Philippines, Kenya, Liberia and South Africa.

Mr Thomas said although FIOH is a charity, they try to avoid using the word.

He said: "We prefer to be known as a partnership, as we could not carry out our work in the countries without the help of groups there, and vice-versa."

FIOH is currently looking for individuals or organisations interested in funding their overseas work.

Anyone who can help can contact Mr Thomas on 01793 532353, or e-mail him at mikethomasfioh@yahoo.co.uk

Surviving on £14 a month

NABO Pano, aged 45, pictured above, is a widow with a son and daughter. They all live with her other son and his wife.

All three are dependant on Nabo for food and other social needs.

The son tends other people's goats for an income of only £5 per month.

Nabo has to work hard in the fields as a labourer and in other people's houses as a cleaner.

The total monthly income of the household comes to only £14, which is barely enough to buy basic food and clothing.

As Nabo cannot afford school fees, her daughter helps with chores, which include collecting wood for fuel and fetching water from a well.