As part of our Forward Community Programme we're proud to have supported the Better Kitchen Sink project run by Pennington School in New Jersey. The project was started by a group of students at Pennington who wanted to use their STEM skills to innovate and design a world that works for everyone. We were approached by them to help fund the project and we made a donation of £4,350 to pay for the tooling, cavity mold, and samples for testing the sink element of their innovative new water filter.
"We are grateful for Mewburn's support. The donation not only improves the lives of marginalized people living in Malawi Africa, but it also provides a learning opportunity for STEM minded students to use their skills to do good work for others," said Susan Wirsig, the faculty lead for the Better Kitchen Sink project.
This project supports Malawi refugees at Dzaleka refugee camp who have very little access to water. This is one of the chores the women at Dzaleka generally perform – walking to the central, shared water pump, and carrying the water back to their huts. One trip to get water takes almost 30 minutes and they have to do this multiple times a day. The World Health Organization recommends people have access to 20 liters of water per day, but at Dzaleka, people live on less than 9 litres/day. Water scarcity is one of the biggest problems facing these refugees.
This amazing invention helps filter grey water from cooking, cleaning and washing into clean water, thereby reducing the strain on the drinking water supply at the camp. The invention also gives hours of time back to those girls and women that are typically the water collectors, that can be used to go to school or for income generating activities.
This picture below is of Elijah Gift with his mom and dad happily demonstrating how the water filter is used at their home. His mother said that since in Malawi water is scarce, this system will her alot to save water. She said that when her son brought the bag of Items for the filter system home she thought it was clothes or some food. After Elijah told her the following day how it worked she was speechless, it will help her save time she drawing water in boreholes or wells. His father said this will help the whole family to spend time together. Elijah's family is so grateful for this project and have said their neighbors will be flocking to them to filter the water!
The team recently submitted their project to the World Series of Innovation Competition, presented by Citi Foundation and the Better Kitchen Sink team was awarded second-place prize in the Fresh Water Action Challenge category, earning $600 to continue the work on the filter.
"We're delighted to have been able to help support the Better Sink Project. This aligns perfectly with our values of supporting innovation and STEM, as well as a key area of focus for us in helping support girls and women in education and beyond." Said Maria Hall, Community Champion at Mewburn Ellis.
Find out more about the project in the film below.
