Nigeria, August 2006 by Rotarian Paul Ringdahl

Ngpoku is a small village on the outskirts of Port Harcourt in Nigeria. It has a small population and is made up of a mixture of young and old. On the day I visited there, there were just a handful of people going about their everyday routine.

As is sadly the case many of the waterway areas in Nigeria have been spoilt by litter and waste being discarded into the waterways. Sadly again this has the knock on effect of affecting there water supply and general health.

Within 5 minutes of talking to the local youths we were swamped with onlookers wanting to know what we were doing and what had we bought for them from the UK. What we were doing was trying to get a photo opportunity without being mugged or kidnapped and these looked like a safe and obliging group. This turned out to be so, however this is not always the case. What we brought them from the Rotary Clubs of the UK was a tool that could save their lives in the future and in the short term give them access to safer drinking water.

I travel to Port Harcourt on a very regular basis and have done so for over a decade. These are good people trying to eke out a living on the most meagre of incomes. Many ask me why I go there when there are so many problems and much unrest, honestly you have more chance of being stabbed in the larger cities of the UK than being killed or kidnapped in Nigeria. Be sensible where, when and how you travel, but don’t dismiss the great friendship that these less fortunate people can extend to you.

My own life is much richer for the association with these people and my compassion and humanity has also broadened as a result. The newspapers and TV channels paint a pretty dim picture of this potentially wealthy country. Happy and smiling faces are everywhere and easy to find despite their day to day challenges, we really do have little to grumble about.

Rotarian Paul Ringdahl

(Founder and chairman of the LifeStraw® Project)

 

Back to News

[Privacy Statement]