Cameroon Catalyst's Sponsored Swim Success

Student run charity Cameroon Catalyst took part in a sponsored swim on campus.

The swim aimed to raise money to build nurses’ houses in the village of Bambouti, in East Cameroon, where the charity has aided development for 5 years. A small group of students are are going out in a couple of weeks to help oversee the project, and they have been doing all sorts of crazy things to raise money for the project.

The fundraising swim saw some of the participants swimming 10 km – that’s FOUR HUNDRED lengths of the Jubilee Pool; others also swam impressive distances of 4 and 5 km, many of them had not swam more than 1km in their lives.

Gervaise looking fresh half way through his 5km swim

Rhiannon Evans, a translator for Cameroon Catalyst who swam the whole 400 lengths, said

It started off well but after a couple of hours it was a struggle to keep going for the distance, turned out to be more of a mental challenge than a physical one. Luckily there was a group of us to keep moral high.

Oli and Rhiannon post-swim

Cameroon Catalyst was founded in 2009 by two engineering finalists at Southampton Uni. The running of the charity, whose main vision is to provide a sustainable future for rural communities in Cameroon, is also helped by French students.

The Cameroon Catalyst Team

Cameroon Catalyst’s sponsored swim took place in Jubilee Pool on Highfield Campus on Sunday 8th and Monday 9th of June. You can still sponsor them here, all proceeds go straight to helping the charity, as the trip is funded by the students themselves.

Other members of Cameron Catalyst have also been busy fundraising including people running marathons and half-marathons with their President walking from London to Southampton across 3 days!

You can find out more about the project here as well as by ‘liking’ their Facebook page and following them on Twitter.