After a case of Norwalk virus caused him one day of nearly unbearable dehydration a year ago, Darren Robinson decided to do something to help people around the world who lack access to clean water.

“I’ve never experienced anything worse, ever,” the Jasper resident said.

Robinson’s using his talents to raise money for Charity: Water, a New York-based organization that builds clean-water wells in impoverished parts of the world including Honduras, Rwanda and Bangladesh. The photographer/musician looked at what he had to offer and decided to sell CDs and photo prints as a fundraiser. 

Because 100 per cent of the funds raised through Charity: Water go to well-buliding projects, Robinson will donate the same percentage of the money he collects.

He’s selling CDs for $10, 8” x 10” prints for $50, and 11” x 14” prints for $75. Robinson will mail out the prints and CDs, or they can be picked up locally from him. Robinson covers the cost of the prints, which Ross Pugh, of Jasper Camera and Gift, is producing at a discount.

The four photos Robinson is selling prints of are all images of water, including Athabasca Falls, Bow Lake, Cabin Creek and Mount Edith Cavell.

The CD is a solo album by Robinson called Stoneland: Town Nowhere that he recorded in 2005. It came to be after he left the band Gladyss Patches, which he belonged to for ten years. “I locked myself in the studio for about a year,” he said. “I wanted to do it on my own terms, all solo.”

The greatest influences on the all-original album are Radiohead, Dave Matthews Band, Blind Melon and Pearl Jam, Robinson said. 

People is the title of one song of Robinson’s that’s been played on radio stations, which is about the night he met his wife, and The World is Hers is about his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Sadie. In addition to being a father, having a full-time job at Jasper Park Lodge, and putting together this initiative, Robinson and his wife are expecting their second child any minute.

Though it takes a few days to get the print made and then mailed, locals can still order them now and get prints or CDs in time for Christmas. 

Robinson’s aim is to raise $5,000, which is what it costs to build a whole sustainable well for a village. “Going without basic necessities is a big thing for me, I can’t imagine living without those things,” he said, adding that he was affected by a video he watched that showed what it was like to live in villages in some parts of the world that lack the necessities. “Kids get sick from drinking dirty water,” he said. 

To order a print or a CD, contact Robinson at 780-852-7445. To view images of the prints or listen to song samples from the CD, which are both available online, email Robinson at darrob14@hotmail.com.