Claire Reid: Helping to relieve poverty
Claire Reid, a former student at St Teresa’s Mercy School, Johannesburg, lives by the motto:
‘Rather teach a person to fish than give a person a fish’. While still at school, Claire invented
Reel Gardening. In 2002 her invention was entered into the Eskom Young Scientists expo and
she won a gold medal at the national finals. The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
nominated Claire’s invention for the South African Junior Water Prize as it reduces water wastage
by 80 percent. She won and then represented South Africa at the Stockholm Junior Water Prize
where Reel Gardening came first out of 24 countries.
Claire Reid with her invention: Reel Gardening
In 2004 Claire won the Woman of the Year Award in the category: Water for Scientific Research–
below the age of 35. She was then nominated for the Shoprite Checkers Woman of the Year in
the Science and Technology where she came in the top three. This award “identifies and pays
tribute to the most exceptional and achieving women in the country whose unswerving
commitment and dedication have made a tangible difference to their communities and society as
a whole”.
The justification for this award reads: “Eighteen-year old Claire Reidis already a local and
international award winner for her ‘Water Wise Reel Gardening’ system that cuts down water
usage for growing vegetables by a phenomenal 80 percent. Claire’s invention offers a
breakthrough for water conservation in rural areas in the developing world. Over 70 percent of the
world’s water is used in agriculture and her simple and effective seed-planting system, where
seeds are encapsulated inside newspaper strips, cuts down water usage by reducing water
leakage into the soil. The newspaper strips keep seeds moist so that they germinate without
wasting water and without being eaten by birds, and at the right depth for proper growth.
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“In South Africa alone, thousands die each year as a result of starvation and Claire’s innovative,
practical and easily applicable technique for planting and successfully germinating seeds in
water-scarce areas to improve rural and peri-urban livelihoods, earned her the country’s Woman
of the Year Award in the Water for Scientific Research for persons under the age 35. Claire’s
New Year’s resolution 2002 to plant her own vegetables at home, an expensive and futile
exercise due to fertiliser and water usage costs, as well as the incomprehensible instructions on
seed packets, led her to design a system for all Africans to understand and use, regardless of
education, language or financial status”.
Because this method of gardening works so well, Claire has started a company, Claire Reid Reel Gardening, which is helping to uplift rural and informal communities. In 2007 Claire
graduated with a BSC Arch from the University of Pretoria. In 2008 she completed her internship
year. Her focus was on the development of environmentally friendly, low income housing. She is
currently completing her Honours in Architecture and next year will complete her Masters. Claire
is environmentally conscious. She believes the two main issues that South Africa faces are a lack
of food, and proper housing. She is tackling both.
Sr. Immaculata Devine RSM
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