Raincatcher Imperial – Helping change lives around the world
The sky is still dark when Christina leaves the house. She lives with her family in a small village, where more than half a year may pass without a drop of rain. During these dry spells, it is her daily job to fetch more than twenty litres of water from a creek four hours away. She wants to go to school, but cannot, because she has to walk so far to gather water. Christina is only ten.
There are many children like Christina in the rural villages of Tanzania. The climate of Tanzania has a pitiful annual rainfall, hence water scarcity is one of the greatest problems faced by the local community. This is where we enter the story.
Founded in 2002 by two Imperial students, the student-led charity Raincatcher Imperial has since completed 14 major summer projects and clocked over 12,096 hours in Tanzania. We have constructed numerous rainwater harvesting systems and provided essential water and sanitation training all around Tabora. More than two million litres of rainwater harvesting capabilities have been built, benefiting thousands of rural villagers, essentially removing the arduous trip Christina and the other countless children have to take daily.
This year, we are moving our focus to Zeze, a rural village in the Kasulu district of Tanzania. After extensive research, boreholes have been identified to be more effective than rainwater harvesting to solve water scarcity (And no, we will not be changing our name to Boreholer Imperial). Therefore, in the coming summer, we will be spending up to eight weeks in Zeze constructing boreholes with the local community. Furthermore, we will set up locally-sourced, sustainable bio-sand filters and, conduct hygiene and microfinance courses for the local people. We might even hold a science camp for the local school!
Before travelling to Zeze, we are organising fundraising events and applying for sponsorships throughout the whole year to fund our research and summer trip. Our upcoming fundraising event is the absolute highlight of the year, the annual Water Walk!
Water Walk 2018 will be held on the 3rd March, to commemorate the UN World Water Day, in advance. In order to raise awareness of water related issues in Tanzania, we will be carrying ten litres of water each and walking ten miles across Central London. Participants will get a taste of what the daily water collection trek feels like. All our fundraising events are open to public, so feel free to get involved with your friends, family, neighbours, and pets!
Walk for water, volunteer for water. In order to achieve our goals, we need your help. If you are interested in what we do, you can follow us on Facebook or come down to our meetings every Tuesday. We welcome any new members! Stay tuned for more information on our summer trip to Tanzania and see you there!
