Searching for the Kiberan Girl

Last year I was part of the Wings of Kilimanjaro team; the largest group to ever summit the world’s tallest free standing mountain, Mt Kilimanjaro and Nepalese Pilot Sano Babu Sunuwar and his guide Matthew Lyimo successfully flew from the summit.  The project raised over $600,000 for charities on the ground in Tanzania and one of those charities was The One Foundation.

The One Foundation began when founder, Duncan Goose, saw a photograph in The Guardian newspaper…  The story of what happened next … and ten years later is incredible.

The One Foundation to date have raised over 10 million pounds and have saved and changed the lives of over 2.5million people in Africa by funding sustainable development projects and providing access to clean drinking water.

I have had the pleasure of getting to know Duncan and the team at one, a very inspirational group of individuals who show, beyond doubt, the incredible difference we can make to other people lives if we want to.

Searching for the Kiberan Girl – a film by talented filmaker and humanitarian Toby Richards.

To most people reading The Guardian on Dec 15th 2003, the photo of the week was just a poignant photo among a sea of coverage on Saddam Hussein’s capture, but to Duncan Goose it changed everything. The photo of the girl by the padlocked tap drove him to learn more about the water problems in the world — and ultimately inspired him to turn what had previously just been an idea — into reality.

Because of this photo, Duncan quit his job, remortgaged his house and focused 100% of his time on launching a philanthropic brand that would that donate 100% of its profit to funding water projects — One Water and The One Foundation were born.

10 years on and over £10m has been raised, changing the lives of over 2.5m people. And last year, Duncan decided to go back and try to find the girl in the photo. Who was she? Where is she now? What is her story?

In March 2014, he learned the harsh realities of life in Kibera first hand, when he finally met the photographer Marco Longari, and Ann Njeri Kibuki, now 15 years old.