SJ Berwin Gives a Dam

On 9 March 2010, an eight-strong team from the law firm SJ Berwin in London travelled to Kenya to spend a week living and working with the Wendano wa Ngomeni Self Help Group: the first of seven communities to be supported by the firm’s Charity of the Year fundraising.

The team not only funded the trip themselves, but, by the time they arrived in Kenya, they had even fundraised enough to pay for the sand dam they would build and support the community’s farming projects.

Only three days after returning to the UK, rains filled the sand dam with water. It takes several rainy seasons for a sand dam to fill with sand and mature, but in the meantime, communities have plenty of water to set up tree and vegetable nurseries, water their animals and irrigate their crops.

Since this sand dam has matured, the Wendano wa Ngomeni community have  invested in sustainable land management and farming with the support of our partners, the Africa Sand Dam Foundation. The women in the group have benefited especially from establishing vegetable nurseries, which, thanks to the sand dam, are now generating a surplus of food which can be sold at local markets

The team from SJ Berwin came to Kenya to help make a difference and in one week they certainly succeeded.