www.practicalpresents.org

Sweet Dreams — £22.00
In Bangladesh, people are learning how to preserve perishable fruits and vegetables by using traditional salting, drying and pickling techniques. This means that they have food all year round and women are able to set up small home-based businesses to earn an income for their families.

Building Blocks — £35.00
These stabilised building blocks, made from soil, water and cement, are used to construct new houses for people in Zimbabwe whose slum homes were demolished. Made by local people using readily-accessible materials, these blocks can help rebuild shattered dreams.

Chicken Tractor — £10.00
In Zimbabwe, poor families can trade a single chick for food or other essentials. These simple triangular coops, made of scrap metal, fencing or wire mesh, are invaluable in protecting a family’s precious chicks from birds of prey.

Wind Turbine — £650.00
An ingenious system of piping and storage tanks in the Alta Mayo region of Peru – an area where 99% of the households don’t have water or sanitation – could help provide the indigenous Awajun communities with safe, clean water – and cut the rates of disease and infant mortality caused by water-related illness. More >>

Herd of Goats — £120.00
A herd of Gorgeous Goats can help whole communities in Sudan struggling against poverty. Hardy animals like these can survive in extreme conditions and the milk they produce can provide much-needed sustenance for young and old alike.

Hand-Held Microphone — £27.00
Flash floods can strike without warning in mountainous regions of Nepal. A hand-held microphone can help alert people in poor, remote communities, giving them the opportunity to escape to higher ground before it is too late.

Rescue Boats — £492.00
When poor families in rural Nepal are stranded by surging flood waters, a rescue boat can mean the difference between life and death. During the monsoon season, one boat can help up to 14 people at a time escape the torrents.

Gorgeous Goat — £20.00
In Sudan and Bangladesh, a goat can be a lifesaver, providing enough milk to keep the whole family healthy. Goats can also be bred and sold, allowing poor parents to generate the income they need to pay for education and vital medicines for their children.

Tiny Trees — £18.00
Tree saplings are invaluable to the poorest communities in the developing world. In Sudan, the fruit of the baobab tree or ‘Tree of Life’ provides three times as much vitamin C as an orange and more calcium than spinach, and helps to prevent a wide range of ailments. The bark can also be woven into clothing or rope to sell.

Floating Gardens — £33.00
In Bangladesh, poor people’s crop fields are destroyed by floods every year. However, by constructing a raft made of water hyacinth, families can grow the vegetables they need to survive. Then, when the growing season ends, the raft can be used as vital compost.

Flood Siren — £143.00
During the monsoon season, poor people in remote areas of Nepal live in constant fear of being swept away. A siren like this one, warning of rising waters, can ensure that people have time to get to safety with their children, animals and belongings.

Cool Zeer Pot — £14.00
This clever idea solves the problem of how to preserve food in the baking heat of Sudan. By placing one lidded earthenware pot inside another and insulating it with wet sand, families have a ready-made fridge that can keep perishable food fresh for up to 20 days.

Splendid Sprinklers — £15.00
Long dry spalls can be disastrous for poor farmers in Nepal, and leave whole communities without adequate food supplies and vulnerable to sickness. A simple sprinkler system can help though, allowing fruit and vegetables to be grown all year round to eat and sell.

Wonderful Ewe — £45.00
In Bangladesh, a sheep can offer families a real lifeline. Easy to transport in times of flood, families can breed and raise sheep to earn money to buy food, clothing and to educate their children.

Funky Chicks — £14.00
Due to frequent droughts, poor farmers in semi-arid areas of Zimbabwe cannot rely on their crops alone to provide for their families. By raising chicks to sell at the market, farmers like Chionesu Gweru can generate the income they need to buy basic provisions and improve their standard of living.

Amazing Water System — £2,250.00
An ingenious system of piping and storage tanks in the Alta Mayo region of Peru – an area where 99% of the households don’t have water or sanitation – could help provide the indigenous Awajun communities with safe, clean water – and cut the rates of disease and infant mortality caused by water-related illness.

Valued Vets — £84.00
Chickens, ducks and other poultry are a vital source of protein and income for poor families in Bangladesh. However diseases such as fowl cholera, pox and duck plague can quickly wipe out a whole flock and that’s why vaccinations are essential to save thousands of birds every year.

Perfect Pumpkins — £72.00
Seeds, compost and a little know-how can help farmers like Mriza Rahim dig and cultivate compost pits on Bangladesh’s otherwise barren sandbars and help them grow gourds and pumpkins to eat, store and sell.

Fireless Cooker — £8.00
Fireless Cookers allow families in Western Kenya to place warm food in an insulated basket where it continues cooking without any additional heat. Not only do they save time, they are also environmentally friendly and help reduce deadly smoke inhalation caused by traditional cooking methods.

Eco-Loo — £36.00
In Zimbabwe these portable, dry toilets prevent water sources becoming contaminated and bring vital sanitation to thousands of deprived people like Grace Hatumwi. They can help stop the spread of deadly diseases like cholera and dysentery, and also restore the dignity of the people who use them.

Inspired Irrigation Systems — £23.00
Erratic rainfall in Nepal can put crops at risk during long dry spells and leave poor families without food. A simple technology involving a large water tank, drip buckets and long hoses punctured at regular intervals allows precious water to drip directly onto the roots of plants.

Terrific Tools — £10.00
A set of tools and materials could help disadvantaged Nepalese farmers cultivate their fields and build a better future for their families.

Popular Tuins — £6,500.00
An ingenious system of piping and storage tanks in the Alta Mayo region of Peru – an area where 99% of the households don’t have water or sanitation – could help provide the indigenous Awajun communities with safe, clean water – and cut the rates of disease and infant mortality caused by water-related illness. More >>

Donkey Plough and Harness — £25.00
In the baking heat of Sudan, preparing the dry earth for planting can be slow, painful work. However, local blacksmiths like Osman Saadeo can construct a practical plough that enables families to cultivate their crops more easily whilst reducing soil erosion. The special soft harness is kind to the donkey, too.

Pedal-Power Pump — £62.00
This incredibly simple and effective water pump is literally bringing the land to life in rural Nepal. The foot pump can be operated by one or two adults, and is less tiring to use meaning that farmers like Anup Kumal can operate it for longer. It can draw up to six times as much water as a traditional hand pump, from up to seven metres below ground – an extremely practical solution that benefits many of the poorest people.

Lovely Latrine — £300.00
Hygienic latrines can help to flush away disease in the slums outside Nairobi, Kenya – and save lives. Without access to sanitary toilet facilities and safe, clean water, many children risk developing life-threatening diseases such as typhoid, dysentery and cholera.

Donkey Water Cart — £250.00
In Sudan, many people have to walk miles to fetch the water they need for drinking and farming. A cart like this one, pulled by a donkey, can bring vital supplies of water to communities, saving precious time and allowing poor farmers to tend their crops.

Fuel-Efficient Stoves — £12.00
These stoves don’t just save wood, they can also save lives! Traditional cooking fires can be deadly in Kenya – smoke inhalation can cause respiratory diseases and children can burn themselves on the open flames. These clay and donkey dung stoves are designed to hold the heat and need less wood than traditional ones.

Clever Compost Bin — £15.00
In Sri Lanka and India, we’re encouraging people to use waste products to make their own compost bins. As well as generating vital income when sold, the bins help improve the local environment and enable families to grow fruit and vegetables at home.

Clean Water Tap — £40.00
These clean water taps could make a colossal difference to people living in places like Epworth in Zimbabwe. With only 1% of residents connected to the water system and overcrowding leading to frequent cholera outbreaks, you could help give families life-changing access to reliable water supplies.

Alpaca Food — £27.00
Wwhat do you feed an alpaca when grassland freezes over? This simple, ingenious hydroponics system enables poor families in Peru such as Teodoro Cerquera's to grow feed for their precious animals in a trough of water, using barley grains enriched with syrup.

Dynamic Donkey — £55.00
A healthy donkey is invaluable in Sudan, helping the poorest families to carry water from distant wells and plough the sun-baked land. Without this hard-working member of the family, farmers like Alhag Elkheir would struggle to grow the crops they need to survive.

Alpaca Veterinary Kit — £74.00
When a poor household relies on livestock for its income, an outbreak of animal disease can threaten a family's very survival. This basic veterinary kit, along with training, means that local people will be able to react quickly to treat common illnesses in animals.

Fluffy Ducks — £12.00
Poor families in Bangladesh really appreciate the value of their ducks. The eggs are nutritious and tasty, while the ducks can also be bred and sold to generate income. Many people desperately need this income to pay for food, clothing and other necessities.

Cuddly Alpaca — £50.00
In the freezing Peruvian Andes, alpacas are part of the family. Not only do they offer a ready supply of nourishing milk, their wool provides people with vital insulation. Families sell the fleeces, too, generating income to see them through the winter months.