A kindhearted girl "amazed" her parents when she told them she wanted friends to bring water for African children instead of presents to her fifth birthday party .
Lyla Brown was moved to make the decision to miss out on gifts after watching a WaterAid advert on television which showed children using dirty water.
The youngster, who attends Bablake School in Coventry, wanted her friends and family to each bring two buckets of water instead, with lids so it wouldn’t spill.
The four-year-old is now asking for donations to WaterAid after her proud parents explained they couldn’t get the buckets of water to Africa.
Read more:
Lyla, four, from Stretton-under-Fosse, turns five on December 9 and has already raised £800 on her Just Giving page, reports the Coventry Telegraph .
Her mum Kiley, who works at the University of Warwick , said: “After a few long and confusing conversations she explained that she had seen the kids with dirty water on TV and she was very worried about them.
“This is something that obviously had a big impact on her when she saw the advertisement on TV and she seems very worried about it so we’re happy to go along with this and help her support such a good cause.
“She now seems to understand that we can’t actually send buckets of water to the kids in Africa, so we explained that we could set up a website for people to donate money to help those kids get some clean water to drink.
“We were amazed by her problem solving skills and that she knew the buckets would need lids.”
Kiley had to rush to tell their family and Lyla’s friends not to bring presents to her party last weekend.
Kiley said: “We were hesistant to ask people at first, because we thought people would think the request was coming from us.”
Philanthropy seems to run in the family as Kiley’s mother recalled Kiley wanting to help children, suffering through famines, when she was the same age as Lyla.
To donate, go to Lyla's JustGiving page .