Former charity volunteers reunite for water-carrying challenge

Sunday 18 February 2024

A team of around 20 islanders who met whilst volunteering in Kenya are reuniting to raise £10,000 in a six-hour water carrying relay around Queen's Valley Reservoir next month.

The group all met on Jersey Overseas Aid trips in 2022 and 2023 during which they built sand dams to allow farming communities in Kenya to access water in or near their villages.

Now they want to raise money for a solar-powered pumping system which the volunteers say would drastically reduce the amount of time that residents spend fetching water.

A total of £23,000 is needed in total to help the Kandu Kaseveni community in Kenya, with Jersey fundraisers hoping to contribute £10,000.

Building sand dams raises the water table in surrounding areas, which allows people to pump water, as well as creating better conditions for crops and plants.

“It’s the hardest physical labour I’ve ever done in my entire life,” said Robbie Wareing-Jones, one of the volunteers involved. “It’s an incredible task.”

WATCH: How sand dams, which JOA volunteers are involved in building, help Kenyan communities.

Sand Dams Worldwide is one of the charities that JOA works with regularly, and a new group is due to travel to Kenya this year to work on the project.

Robbie explained how the sand dams built by the charity and its volunteers allow communities to access water much closer to their homes – meaning that not only do people (women and children in particular) have more time to do other things, they can also use the water to, for example, grow vegetables or trees.

He said that one of the things he had been most impressed by in Kenya was watching children carry water back to their homes.

“I would see schoolchildren, between 6:00 and 6:30 in the morning, going for their first trip of the day with their plastic containers to fetch water," explained Robbie.

“In the evening I would see the same kids again, still in uniform. It was the task given to them by their parents.”

The relay, where participants will carry two five-litre plastic containers around the reservoir, took their trips as inspiration.

Robbie anticipates that around 20 former JOA volunteers from all walks of life will take part.

The six-hour relay will take place at Queens Valley Reservoir in Jersey on Sunday 3 March between 10:00 and 16:00 with kind permission of Jersey Water.

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Robbie and his team are fundraising HERE.