Cameroon Catalyst are a development charity based at the University of Southampton (where I study Civil Engineering) who try to promote sustainable development in rural areas in Cameroon. Over the past five years they have focused on a very poor village called Bambouti located in the east of Cameroon in order to develop the village so that it can sustain itself without additional help. Back in 2009 - 2012 they built a medical centre to provide health care for the residents and a variety of mechanical workshops and school buildings in order to educate the people. Since then, they have erected a solar hub in order to provide the medical centre with electricity so they can keep important vaccinations refrigerated and have helped to improve many of the houses in the village. Consequently the village can now sustain itself and has done well since all the work the charity have done.

This year the charity is expanding to incorporate some other nearby villages who have been singled out as being the most vulnerable due to a lack of sanitary drinking water in the East of Cameroon. In some of these villages, over 50% of the population do not have access to such a necessity. The plan is to build ten wells in these villages to provide clean drinking and washing water before the end of the year. This is the project I am involved in.

My role is the 'Trip Coordinator', and I am in charge of the group of
students who will be travelling out to Cameroon in the summer. We will help over-see, get involved with and manage the projects, but leaving the majority of the work down to the local people so that they benefit from knowing how the wells work and can thus maintain and use them themselves.

I am very excited about the trip and am currently helping the team to fund-raise the money needed to build the wells whilst also raising money to fund my own expenses to get out there! It is unlike anything I have every done before and I am sure it will be a life changing experience.

I would be very grateful if you would like to donate to the charity, the money you donate will go directly to constructing and maintaining the wells in Cameroon and so is of vital importance no matter how much you choose to give.

Thank you very much for your help and don't hesitate to contact me if you have any other questions about the work that the charity are doing.