The father of an international development student killed while cycling in London revealed today how he honoured her memory by helping remote communities in Tanzania.
Allister Carey founded the Eleanor Foundation after daughter Ellie Carey, 22, died in a collision with an HGV near Tower Bridge in December 2011.
Ms Carey was studying at London Metropolitan University and planned to become an aid worker in Africa. She had previously volunteered at an Aids orphanage in South Africa during a gap year.
Mr Carey, 69, a retired stockbroker who lives in Guernsey, has dedicated much of the past eight years to establishing the charity.
It has raised more than £600,000 which has been used to build 70 clean water wells, tapping into underground reservoirs to prevent the population having to drink from streams and ponds.
Pond water is contaminated with animal faeces and contains parasites, putting the population at risk of typhoid, dysentery and cholera.
“It was what Ellie wanted to do on water sanitation and hygiene, which is a real challenge out there,” Mr Carey said. “These are the sort of places the [Tanzanian] government doesn’t go to.
“The impact goes wider than just providing clean water. It means people are ill less often. On average, it’s 1,000 people using each well. We have conservatively helped 70,000 people.”
The Eleanor Foundation charity has also built a health centre at which babies are vaccinated and mothers give birth, and has put toilets in schools.
In a separate initiative, Mr Carey has gathered 2,600 second-hand bikes from the Channel island, which are restored by charity Re-Cycle in Colchester and sent to Africa. Ellie’s brothers Peter and Allister and many of her London friends — she also studied at Kingston — have helped with fundraising. Mr Carey said: “We thought we would try to achieve some of the things she would have wanted to do.”
