Unam's Stockholm journey

Update

GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - Grade 10 Heatherlands High School learner Unam Halam (16) is back home in George after her trip to Stockholm, Sweden, where she represented South Africa in the Stockholm Junior Water Prize competition as part of Stockholm World Water Week (SWWW).

Halam went over to pitch the Drop Saver project that she and co-learner Faith Classen had devised for the SA Department of Water and Sanitation's science and technology-based South African Youth Water Prize competition in May this year.

After winning at regional and then provincial level with their device, Halam and Classen's invention was selected to represent South Africa on the global stage.

This meant they'd be taking part in the Stockholm Junior Water Prize competition, which is a key part of SWWW every year. It's an international competition for innovators aged between 15 and 20 from across the world who have developed solutions to major water challenges in their respective countries.

This year, 36 countries were represented at the competition.

Classen could not make it to Stockholm due to personal reasons, but she left the project in the trusty hands of her close friend and classmate to carry their and the country's flags high.

Unam Halam stands proudly for the group photo of the participants, flanked by participants from Sweden and Norway.

Halam presented the Drop Saver to the judges on Monday 29 August at the Norra Latin conference centre, which is where the conference was held.

The winner was selected the following day, Tuesday 30 August, and in the evening the prize-giving ceremony was held in the main auditorium at Norra Latin.

The ceremony was a landmark for both the Stockholm Junior Water Prize and the Stockholm World Water Week, as it was the first time that it was held as a hybrid between online and physical attendance.

Of the 36 countries that took part in this year's competition, nine attended online while 27 attended the event physically. It was a great evening all around, celebrating some of the brightest young minds from the world of water across the globe. While the Drop Saver project was not the winner – the prize went to Canada – the outlook is positive for its creators.

"All we want for our children is to open up the world for them and then they can decide what to do with it," said South African Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu.

"And this is a world-class platform for them to experience and participate in an event of this nature. So I say congratulations to them, the world is in your hands."

Halam is positive and hopeful for what lies ahead. "It was an amazing experience, one that I'm going to remember for the rest of my life, and even though I didn't win first prize I met amazing people and I got to come to this amazing city," she said of her time in Stockholm.

"I've gone around to other projects and [will] take what I've learned from my peers and implement that into my project and maybe even other projects I might have in future."

Unam Halam with her physical sciences teacher at Heatherlands High School, Marissa Murphy.