4Water

789. Samson Kendall

Samson Kendall has raised over £140,000 for projects in Ethiopia through his innovative fundraising organisation, ‘4Water’.

As a university student, he decided to teach salsa classes and donate all the profits to WaterAid. He inspired the students who attended his salsa lessons to establish their own classes and share their own unique skills and talents with others so that they could also fundraise for WaterAid. He now oversees an international project that has reached 10 cities around the world, and as a direct result of his inspiring work, at any given time he has 200 volunteers offering their skills in sports, dance, and languages.

In a personal letter to Samson, Prime Minister Theresa May said:

“By setting up ‘4Water’, you have inspired hundreds of people to raise money for WaterAid by using their skills to give lessons to others. You have shown tremendous innovation and commitment, and your fundraising has made a major contribution to life-saving projects across the world. You should be very proud of the scale and impact of your project.”

Samson said:

“Thank you Points of Light for offering us this special award. On finding out that we had received it I read through some of the stories of previous winners and felt humbled knowing how many inspirational people there are fighting for what they believe in.

“In the world we live in today 1 in 10 people still lack access to safe water and 1 in 3 lack access to basic sanitation. Every day, 900 children worldwide die from diarrhoea caused by dirty water and poor sanitation. Girls often spend so much time collecting water that they miss out on the chance to go to school. Access to safe water and sanitation is not a luxury but a basic human right and we at ‘4Water’ will fight alongside WaterAid until this human right is delivered to everyone everywhere.

“4Water is a community of like-minded people who use their hobbies as tools to combat inequality. We combine global development with social interaction, personal growth and self-actualisation. Through ‘4Water’ I have met so many special people and it’s only through the hard work and perseverance of our incredible volunteers that our success, as represented by this award, has been made possible.”