I was a naive 19 year old looking for adventure and was shocked by the harsh realities that many Tanzanians struggle with as part of daily life. Poor water supply, water borne diseases, and sanitation issues all affected the community where I worked. I was teaching English and ran the school football team.

Then our football team captain died from typhoid, a disease carried by water. This was something I found profoundly shocking: I couldn’t get my head round it. It seemed such a sad, unnecessary, and, above all, a preventable waste of life.

When I returned home I decided I wanted to do something that could really help and make an impact. This thought stayed at the back of my mind for years.

Our first project

Finally, in 2002, I worked with a friend from Tanzania to set up a one off project to raise funds for an underground water tank. The fundraising was a roaring success – and attracted great support – so we decided to create an ongoing project and Raincatcher was born.

In those first years we raised money every which way we could: cake stands, game stalls, lotteries, men shaving their legs (and heads), cycle rides, carol recitals, horse racing nights, lucky dips, fashion shows, sponsored silences, dressing as smurfs, London Marathon runs, car washes, supermarket checkout helpers, collections from brass bands, one fundraiser even climbed Mt Kilimanjaro – you name it someone’s done it to raise money for Raincatcher projects. Like I say, we’ve had fantastic support from the general public and some very generous donations from local businesses.

We’ve come a long way

We’ve completed many projects since then and changed lots of lives along the way but there is  a key moment that sticks in my mind.

In 2007 I was in a village called Sikonge, some 75km south of Tabora, checking on a shallow well that Raincatcher had funded. I’m very aware of the value and the impact of the work that we do but when I’m working tend to put it to the back of my mind. (Embarrassingly I get tearful really easily, even at schmaltzy movies or when Disney characters have a hard time, so I need to put certain things to the back of my mind to get things done.) Anyway, this shallow well had been constructed properly and was in good working condition and while we were inspecting it an old lady wearing an extremely worn and tatty kanga (the traditional dress) and bare feet shuffled up to the pump to fill her container. It was then that I noticed that she had no fingers or toes. Her hands and feet were stumps.

She was suffering from leprosy and had walked from the local leper village just 200 metres or so across the fields. One of the reasons for siting the well there was so that the inhabitants could get access to clean and safe water. Before then they had had to trek more than a mile to collect water. At that moment I felt really proud and yet really angry that this situation still existed in the world today.

There’s always more to do

Raincatcher is evolving all the time and is creating a legacy that will benefit people for years to come. I hope this brief account has given you an insight as to why we do what we do. You’re always welcome to join us in the next chapter of Raincatcher’s story.