A STUDENT will work hard and play hard to help get a well for an Ethiopian village.

Dan Lee, 25, who is studying sports science and psychology at the University of Chester, was asked by an old friend to raise vital funds for a water pumping facility and was eager to step up to the challenge.

His first-year flatmate Yacob Godebo is now a minister in Ethiopia after graduating in theology from the University of Chester in 2004.

Dan, of Vernon Road, aims to raise much of the £10,000 needed from a night in The Living Room, St Werburgh Street on March 1 next year.

He and another old university friend, marketing co-ordinator at The Living Room, Jack Latham, hope to attract 450 people to the event to be called H2O.

Jack said: “We’ll be selling water all night and with each bottle there will be something attached.

“There’ll be things like champagne as well as cheaper prizes so people can buy what they can afford.

“Finances have stopped because Ethiopia is at war with Somalia. We’re doing this on a wing and a prayer that they’ll still be there.”

Dan plans to organise other charity nights at bars around Chester and has started training for the London Marathon on April 13.

He said: “I’ve been running 25 miles a week and after Christmas I’ll be doing 40 miles a week.

“It’s a personal thing and it’s a friend. I want to help him out. I want to do more after this. I’ll do as much as I can for the rest of my life.”

The Ethiopian government has promised that if the village can raise £10,000, they will pledge the other £17,000 necessary to fund the labour costs and materials.

The project will provide more than 15,000 people with over 30 years of water, enabling them to become more self-sufficient.

At the moment more than 80% of the population have to walk long distances for water that is not clean and takes many lives.

The pair are hoping to receive sponsorship from local businesses in order to foot the bill and help with their money-raising efforts.

Dan says: “Anyone who will help us, we will take them whether it be providing prizes for the H2O night or sponsorship.”