By Chris Davis, Outlaw Partners Videographer
Not long after the first time I held a camera I developed an insatiable thirst for travel. I grew up thumbing through Zoo Books, old issues of National Geographic, and wrestling my brothers for the television remote and the right to watch The Discovery Channel.
When I joined The Outlaw Partners last September, I had high hopes of adventure, but I never imagined we would be globetrotting within the first year. But this past April and May Outlaw’s video team traveled to Nairobi, Kenya to work on a project for The HabiHut, a Bozeman based company that provides shelter in places where valuable natural resources are limited and the need for quick, durable and sustainable housing is required.
Through my travels with Jim Ogburn, one of the HabiHut innovators, we saw quite a bit of the world and had invaluable conversations that I will carry into future endeavors. It was, however, the work before us that made me feel humble and inspired.
While we were there, the HabiHut team built a structure on the grounds of Gatina United Church, which is in one of the largest slums in the world. At Gatina, water, even from municipal sources, is available only a few days a week, and then it may not be safe to drink. For the more than 100,000 people living around Gatina, this is a very serious issue.
The HabiHut there will operate as a clean water kiosk where the women of the church will draw, filter and sell clean water to the village. I’ll never forget how excited the women were to start another business pursuit (they’re weavers, too) and provide clean water to their community.
I’m looking forward to showing our video to the world, and even more so because our friends in Gatina are excited for us to share their story.
We’ll have the footage from the trip edited soon; until then, I’ve made a short “Outlaw Goes to Africa” video to give a little taste of our trip:
http://vimeo.com/43238484
“Drink clean water,” or in Swahili, “kunywa maji safi.”
