Jamie steps up for fresh water
Published 3 Aug 2012 14:30
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WHEN an eight-year-old boy learnt that not everyone in the world has clean drinking water, at first he thought there was nothing he could do
to help.
But with encouragement from his parents Helene and Tim, young Jamie Kedwards carried out research and is now well on his way to raising £1,890 to buy a sustainable water pump for a village in The Gambia, west Africa.
After selling cakes and stationary, the Binfield youngster is now planning to do a sponsored five-mile walk - the average distance a villager has to walk to collect water. He will do it carrying four pints of water, the amount a person needs a day, excluding for crops.
Jamie, who was nine on Monday, said: "I started thinking I might raise a little bit of money towards a pump but then I thought, 'Well, it would be nicer - a lot harder but nicer - to actually pay for a whole pump'."
Jamie learnt about the water problems in February during a global awareness week at his school, Binfield Primary. He was upset to discover many water pumps that had been installed in the last decade were not durable designs and had broken down and not been repaired.
He carried out research and contacted the Fairwater Foundation in the Netherlands, which makes and installs a low-maintenance pump called the BluePump.
So far he has raised £1,200 towards buying a pump, through the cake bake, collecting loose change, putting donation tins in local shops and running two 'back to school' stationary stalls - one at the Binfield Parish Diamond Jubilee celebrations and another at his school fete.
Now he is preparing to do the five-mile sponsored walk, on Monday, along the Thames at Medmenham near Marlow - accompanied by his dog Pebble, a five-year-old English springer spaniel.
Mrs Kedwards said of her son's fundraising: "It's absolutely amazing. It's just such a positive thing to do. It's a lot of money and a lot of hard work."
Jamie, who will be going into Year 5 in the autumn, encouraged other children to make a difference, saying: "Don't think that there's nothing you can do because you're younger. There is something you can do."
Find out more about Jamie's project and sponsor him via PayPal by visiting www.fairwater.org/fairwater-/-sanex-bluepumps-in-gambia/gambia-brikama.html
Donors should mention "Sponsoring Jamie's BluePump".
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honeybear
288 posts
Aug 5, 21:08
Report commentIf you want to help supply clean water to third world countries you can send donations to "WaterAId". Funds sending engineers abroad to build and install wells. pumps and treatment.
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