Stockholm: Breaking bread over water

Update

NATIONAL NEWS - Co-inventor of the Drop Saver and South Africa's representative at the Stockholm Junior Water Prize competition, 16-year-old Unam Halam, met with South African Minister of Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu over breakfast yesterday morning.

Halam regaled Mchunu with stories of the birthing of the Drop Saver, which she and a friend and classmate, Faith Classen, designed, and the journey it travelled all the way to the Stockholm Junior Water Prize competition.

The breakfast was held yesterday, 30 August, at the Sheraton Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden and kicked off what was set to be a big day for both Halam and Mchunu.

For Halam, a Grade 10 learner at Heatherlands High School in George, it marked the day on which she would find out if the Drop Saver project will take the Stockholm Junior Water Prize back home to South Africa.

The awards ceremony was held in the Main Auditorium of the Norra Latin last night, and while she didn’t win the prize Halam learned important lessons during the competition.

For Mchunu, a day of meaningful and important high-level engagements lay in wait. He partook in a 09:00 session that centred around the question “What is the value of water cooperation?”, taking a look at transboundary co-governance and management of water resources around the world.

At 11:00 he was a speaker during the International High-Level Panel on Water Investment for Africa, a very special session that featured speeches from dignitaries from not only the whole of the African continent, but from all over the world.

Always one for a quick joke, South African Minister for Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu and Unam Halam have a laugh as they meet for breakfast.

South African Minister for Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu and Unam Halam have a chat over breakfast.

South African Minister for Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu listens attentively as Unam Halam speaks passionately about the Drop Save project. Photos: Blake Linder