We were delighted to learn that CED member Rob Hoy was awarded an MBE in the recent New Year’s Honours list for his services to water engineering in Rwanda. Many congratulations Rob!
Here he shares a little of what he’s been up to in Rwanda – and elsewhere in East Africa.
I left my job working as a civil engineer for Southern Water in 2005, having decided it was now or never for pursuing my long-held but ill-defined ambition to ‘work in Africa’. After completing several courses with RedR to retrain and learn the skills that would be more appropriate in my new environment, I went for the first time with 15 others from Southover Church, Lewes in January 2007. As well as ‘doing’ (I helped build a simple house for a widow) I went to listen and observe to discern whether there was anything worthwhile I might achieve. I was immediately struck by the many children and women carrying heavy jerrycans of water and discovered what harm this causes – both physical and also social because the time spent fetching water could have been spent on other essential activities. I resolved to return to build a rainwater harvesting system.
Over the following years I visited Rwanda normally twice a year, initially to build rainwater systems for individual houses, then design and implement systems for schools and churches with the help of a local civil engineer. Since Covid I’ve visited Rwanda once a year.
In 2008 I collaborated with John Griffith, developer of the Grifaid portable membrane filter, that removes solids (including viruses) larger than 0.01 micron, by testing a prototype and organising large scale field trials leading to the filter’s approval by Rwanda’s Bureau of Standards in 2022.
I’ve worked closely with (mostly Anglican) churches in all 5 Provinces to provide rainwater harvesting and Grifaid filters. Initially I used plastic tanks but now specify ferrocement construction, having been introduced to these when Alan Michell accompanied me for the first time in January 2016 when we met James Rubakisibo of RHEPI with whom Ian Rankin had worked many years previously.
Having assisted Ian in running a ferrocement tank construction training course in Feb 2019 and then running one myself in Feb 2023, my focus in Rwanda now is to encourage beneficiaries to construct their own tanks both for the benefit of their dioceses and as a means of income generation.
I’ve also visited Uganda and Kenya on various water and health-related projects. Since 2023 I’ve made annual visits to Lubajja (near Mityana) and Buikwe (near Jinja) and (from 2024) Moroto and Karamoja Diocese (all in Uganda) as well as Kapenguria Diocese in Kenya. At Lubajja, where there is a very needy community on the shore of Lake Wamala, a pilot project, including domestic biogas plants, microflush latrines, kitchens and efficient clay ovens is nearing completion. At Buikwe and Moroto, filters have been supplied to provide safe drinking water. Following a visit to Alale (an arid region in West Pokot. NW Kenya) in January 2024 my church raised £12,000 for a borehole which I was honoured to open with huge celebrations in July last year.
Finally, although it’s been too dangerous to travel there, since 2011 I’ve enjoyed close fellowship with many brothers and sisters in Christ from the DRC who have visited me whilst I was staying at the border town of Kamembe in Rwanda. Together we have partnered in many filter and rainwater harvesting projects in North and South Kivu Provinces as well as some income-generating activities such as pig rearing and soap making. The long-lasting relationships developed over the years with a huge range of members of society in the 3 countries I’ve visited, mostly the neediest but also government ministers and at every level in between, have been invaluable. It has been a huge joy and privilege to serve in this way and very much supported by my wife Jan.