THE HIPPO ROLLER
Our last meeting heard that the Hippo Roller is a South African conceived water carrying device that gives the gift of time to families living in poverty in Africa.
Read on as our member Tiff Kellar reports on this low cost project that is helping communities improve access to water – 90 litres at a time.
Collecting water is a daily burden for millions of people. A burden that usually falls to women and children. In Africa, people walk for up to an hour to reach their nearest water source. They fill 20-litre buckets of water and carry them on their heads and make the journey home. Carrying such a heavy weight (20kg) on their head causes neck and spinal injuries. The trip to collect water is made up to three times per day, taking up hours of time that could be put to more useful purposes such as education or earning a living.
The Hippo Roller's innovative design carries 90 litres (3.5x more than a bucket) of water , which is placed inside a 'rolling wheel', barrel-shaped container. The steel handles allow people to roll the container full of water, transferring the weight to the ground. This means people only need to make the journey to the water source at most once per day, which saves people hours in the day to put towards more productive endeavours.
The Hippo Rollers are durable for 7 years and cost AUD$185 per unit. The project is supported by the Rotary Club of Chatswood Sunrise.
[Thanks to Tiff Kellar]