Wightlink’s Captain Steve Baker combines sailing the Solent with volunteering on a project in Sierra Leone that supports local people to bring vital water supplies to their villages by digging wells.
He’s now appealing for anyone with unwanted safety shoes and helmets and clothing such as high visibility jackets that are still in good condition to donate them.
He’s pledging to make sure they reach communities in West Africa that will make good use of them. Wightlink is already handing over its unwanted PPE for onward shipment to Sierra Leone.
Captain Steve, who works as a Master on Wightlink’s Lymington to Yarmouth route, has seen first-hand how digging wells changes lives, especially to the women and children who carry the bulky water containers to the villages.
“It’s almost unbelievable that in 2025 so many people do not have access to clean water,” says Steve.
“One of the villages we are helping is Masaya where a river is their only source so a borehole will transform life in the community.”
“Personal protective equipment (PPE) is almost non-existent in outback Sierra Leone and we have had a few injuries over the years as a result.
"It’s not unusual for me to look down a 70ft deep well that is being hand dug and see a worker in the bottom who is totally unprotected from any stones that may fall in.”
Steve works directly with small charities on the ground in Sierra Leone that support local communities.
In 2024, he took a team of engineers from the Mission ship Logos to put a new engine into an abandoned tractor to help villagers in the south of the country to grow more rice.
This project involved Practical Tools Initiative in Fareham.
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