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When Ryan was six years old, he learnt that not everyone could just turn a tap on and get clean water. Some people around the world had to walk hours to get water that wasn’t even good and made them sick. Ryan wanted to change this. He begged his parents for money to donate to build a well if he did extra chores.
After four months, Ryan had raised $70 (around £52) out of the $2,000 (about £1,400) needed to build a well. If he continued at this rate, it would take nine-and-a-half years for Ryan to raise enough money to build a well. He realised if he wanted to solve the problem, he needed to bring a team of people together.
So Ryan called headteachers and other leaders in community groups and asked if he could come and visit. Ryan went from place to place, reaching out to as many people as he could about the problem. He asked them to help raise money for his first well at Angolo Primary School in Uganda.
After achieving his first target and feeling even more motivated than before, Ryan set up Ryan’s Well Foundation. Twenty years later, the Ryan’s Well Foundation has completed 1,531 water projects, bringing safe water and sanitation to 1,109,193 people! Ryan says, ‘My advice to anyone is that, in order to make a positive change in the world, you need to find something you are passionate about and then you need to take steps to act.’
