Kenya September 2006 and the Abergavenny Camera Club

On the 16th of September 8 members of the Abergavenny Camera Club set off to Kenya for the trip of a lifetime. Their destination was the Masai Mara, an area of considerable natural beauty and abundant wildlife.

Two of the party (President Denise Ringdahl and myself) are members of the Rotary Club of Brynmawr and fortunately the rest of the party wished to visit the school as part of the itinerary. This was a great chance to provide and promote the LifeStraws to the pupils in this remote area.

With all the luggage restrictions in place at the time it was looking very grim to be able to get enough straws to the children, however with the kind assistance of the Abergavenny Camera Club members we managed to get handfuls of LifeStraws into every ones suitcases.

We spent several hours with the children and their teacher explaining how the LifeStraw worked and how it could save their lives should they need it. The school has been blessed with a new water tank fed from rain water collected from the corrugated roofing iron however this water has no guarantee as to its purity. Airborne bacteria and insects can find their way into the tank and, as such, this can compromise the sterility of the collected water. Our Camera Club’s chairman can be seen here with a group of would–be photographers.

What has been clearly established through many independent trials is that water treated at source has more than double the risk of contamination prior to consumption than does filtering immediately prior to consumption, and this is where the LifeStraw proves its effectiveness.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time with the school and intend to keep in touch with them in the future. We had a number of LifeStraws left over after this visit so decided to donate them to the local Doctor for distribution to those who would benefit the most from this simple but effective device.

It is comforting to know how much good we have done these children with just a few hours out of our day. Perhaps if you are intending to make a trip to an area known for poor quality water you may be able to do the same. In my opinion and in this case and with such small quantities I would rather take these direct to the recipients in these remote areas than leave them for distribution by a third party. It’s a personal choice.

Rotarian Paul Ringdahl

 

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