A day in the life of...
Callum Sheehan, Programmes Manager at Sand Dams Worldwide, a charity working to provide clean, accessible water and empower communities.
This is a feature from Issue 11 of Charitable Traveller. Click to read more from this issue.
Callum Sheehan, Programmes Manager at Sand Dams Worldwide, a charity working to provide clean, accessible water and empower communities.
Sand dams are an ancient technology, used by the Romans, which last upwards of 60 years, create a new water source for communities and recharge the water table – re-greening the environment and helping both agriculture and biodiversity.
A concrete wall is built across a seasonal riverbed so that during the rainy season, floods bring sand from up-river which gets trapped behind it. This creates a new, elevated riverbed which stores up to 40 million litres of water. It’s naturally filtered by the sand, doesn’t evaporate and avoids mosquito-borne diseases like malaria. About 97% of the water flows on, so other communities don’t miss out.
A typical day...
… sees me working to ensure our projects are running well. Our work is done through in-country partners in Kenya, Tanzania, Malawai, Mozambique and Ethiopia, who I work closely with. My job covers planning, monitoring and evaluating projects. It involves lots of emails and phone calls, data analysis, studying budgets and report writing. I also visit the countries, seeing potential sand dam sites, holding meetings with partners and speaking to communities to gather insights.
When someone tells you that they get up at 2am to walk to a well, it hits home how arduous and dangerous the journeys are that people undertake every day just to find clean water.
Sand dams are an ancient technology, used by the Romans, which last upwards of 60 years, create a new water source for communities and recharge the water table – re-greening the environment and helping both agriculture and biodiversity.
A concrete wall is built across a seasonal riverbed so that during the rainy season, floods bring sand from up-river which gets trapped behind it. This creates a new, elevated riverbed which stores up to 40 million litres of water. It’s naturally filtered by the sand, doesn’t evaporate and avoids mosquito-borne diseases like malaria. About 97% of the water flows on, so other communities don’t miss out.
A typical day
… sees me working to ensure our projects are running well. Our work is done through in-country partners in Kenya, Tanzania, Malawai, Mozambique and Ethiopia, who I work closely with. My job covers planning, monitoring and evaluating projects. It involves lots of emails and phone calls, data analysis, studying budgets and report writing. I also visit the countries, seeing potential sand dam sites, holding meetings with partners and speaking to communities to gather insights.
When someone tells you that they get up at 2am to walk to a well, it hits home how arduous and dangerous the journeys are that people undertake every day just to find clean water.
the challenge...
… is working with partners who are working in such difficult contexts. A project in Malawi was recently halted after they had three cyclones in three months, which destroyed roads and blocked access.
What's drives me...
…is meeting our dedicated, knowledgeable partners and the lovely people in the communities. They drive it all – not just the building of sand dams, but environmental protection work like tree-planting and terracing, and agricultural projects, promoting climate smart farming methods and crops suited to droughts. Our work starts with a sand dam but it goes on to affect farmers, whose improved harvest means food security and a better income; women and children, who are able to work or go to school; communities, whose health is improved, and the environment.
A snowball effect
Read more about this charity’s transformational work in Africa and how your money can build a platform for communities to fly.
This is a feature from Issue 11 of Charitable Traveller. Click to read more from this issue.
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