I'm helping support Cameroon Catalysts fundraising for 2022.

They are a student run organisation who use engineering solutions to provide clean drinking water for rural villages and vulnerable communities, by building wells and pumps. They are currently working with a village in east Cameroon where only 47% of the population have access to safe water, this leads to an infant mortality of 57 deaths per 1000 births. This has halved since 1971, due to improved access, but is still way above the global average. In developed countries, this rate is 2 per 1000. 18% of rural populations have access to clean water and they have to travel over 30 minutes to get it.

This year CamCat Southampton is designing a borehole well. This will provide the community of Bambouti access to safe drinking water for the next 30-50 years. This is a more cost-effective long-term solution than is currently being installed, because it combats the impact of climate change by reaching deeper aquifers than hand-dug wells, which are more sensitive to the drying effects caused by global warming.

Cameroon Catalyst's cofounder, Patrick Mballa was born in east Cameroon and his family still lives there. His local ties to and knowledge of the area mean that the money raised is spent as effectively and ethically as possible. All of the money raised will go directly to building costs, such as materials that are locally sourced and more easily fixed, labour, machinery and enabling works.