Jaguar employee wins dream trip to help children in Kenya!
Winning entry earns Jaguar Land Rover Staff Member a dream trip of a lifetime, helping provide safe water to over 300 000 school pupils in Kenya!
It started with two well-known clichés: “One step at a time” and “Our children are the future”. The messages resonated strongly for Jaguar Land Rover staff member Pirosha Iyer, who won her dream trip to be part of the Jaguar Land Rover’s new project in Africa as part of its Global CSR Programme.
The programme, which was launched in 2013 as part of Land Rover’s ‘environmental innovation’ strategy – was done in conjunction with Climate Care and Vestaguard to provide safe water to schools in Kenya’s Bungoma region.
Pirosha of Centurion, Pretoria, won a staff competition to be part of the epic 2015 Class LifeStraw distribution journey after being inspired to help others and contribute to a better school environment for the youth in Kenya.
“Being part of this initiative helped me to inspire others. To show others that no matter how difficult life can be at times, there are others who need even more help than you–so you need to learn to appreciate life and what it has to offer.
Being able to contribute to a better school environment only aids children to focus on their daily activities, which will ultimately lead to a better future.”
Pirosha’s responsibilities on the trip included visiting schools and teaching pupils about basic hygiene and how to use the LifeStraw product in order to obtain safe water.
Pirosha, who was visiting rural Africa for the first time, was extremelysurprised to see how content the people of Bungoma were – despite their dire circumstances.
‘’The water in the area was so bad that we each had our own LifeStraws to drink from. There isn’t a shortage of water in the area- it is the quality that is the problem. To gain access to the schools we had to do some form of 4×4’ing. With our ‘Landies’, we made it effortlessly.
I interacted with so many children, and to hear their stories was amazing. There are so many of them who have suffered from cholera, typhoid, diarrhea and many other illnesses from drinking unsafe water. To see their faces light up when they heard that they were to receive a solution to the unsafe water problem is an experience I cannot properly express, and is something I will never forget,” Pirosha said.
In Bungoma it is normal for children to be late because of the chores they’re expected to do before leaving for school. Many of they have to walk almost two kilometers to fetch water before the hour-long walk to school.
The visiting team installed eight LifeStraws, each holding 25 litres of water. These were seen as the fulfillment of the motto’s for the week ‘Smart Technology Changes Lives’ and ‘Tumia Maji Safi’ (Swahili for ‘Use Safe Water’).
Although Pirosha had to leave her two-year old daughter behind, she remained keen to continue being part of the project. She has returned home a lot more cautious and aware of little things – like the slightest dripping of a tap, or the need to fill up the pool.
“To have had the opportunity to teach those children why it is so important to wash fruit and vegetables before eating them and why you must wash your hands after visiting the bathroom was just amazing. You don’t make a difference to just one person, you make a difference to the help to improve things for an entire community.”