The moments — so many of them both heart-warming and heart-aching at the same time — just kept piling up for Brady Oliveira.

And now every single one of those snapshots is forever etched in his memory bank from a recent trip to the village of Taveta in Kenya with fellow Canadian Football League players like Geno Lewis, Shawn Bane, Jr. Royce Metchie, Drew Wolitarsky, Dominique Rhymes and others as World Vision ambassadors.

“I ended up taking Nic (Demski’s) spot because he had other obligations and couldn’t go,” began Oliveira in a chat with bluebombers.com from a CFL marketing shoot this week in Hamilton. “It ended up being one of the most life-changing trips of my life. It was 100 percent life changing.

“It was so eye opening, and I feel very fortunate to have had this opportunity.”

Fresh from his annual offseason trip to Bali where he combines some offseason R&R with training while helping with his ongoing mission in rescuing dogs, Oliveira and the CFL World Vision ambassadors first flew to Nairobi last week, then took the train to Voi, where the crew was staying during the trip. Every day they would then venture to Taveta, one of the many villages where World Vision is funding the building of wells.

“We’re extremely fortunate to be able to live in the Western world and a place like Canada where we have access to all the essential necessities like water,” Oliveira said. “It’s 2025 and no one in this world should be dealing with a lack of clean water, of safe water. The scarcity of water in Kenya is real. We hear about it but don’t know how severe it is.

“Being there and stepping into their shoes to see the challenges and struggles they face on a daily basis was real to me. Having to fetch water by going six kilometres every day — and it’s not a clean source of water. The water is brown and there’s disease and bacteria in there and it’s all these families and kids have access to. Water is a necessity and that’s all they have. So, to see that was very, very real.

“We’re able to go to the store and buy a bottle of water. We’re able to turn on the tap and turn our back for a few moments without thinking about it and have that water still running where there are people in Kenya who don’t have access to clean and safe water.”

At least once daily the villagers of Taveta make a six-kilometre trek to and from a water source on foot, with women and wives often carrying back containers of water than can weigh up to 20 kilograms. The kids chip in, too, often rolling or kicking the full containers of water back to the villages.

And one of the moments that will stay with Oliveira came from one of the visits to a well still under construction.

“One of the villages we went to has a borehole under construction and the well should be done in the next couple of months,” he said. “They did a test, and it was probably one of the most-heartfelt moments of the trip — when they turned on that water for the first time — and see all the kids running to that water source and splashing water on their faces, drinking the water. Then it was the men and the women and the rest of the community drinking the water. It was a powerful scene.

“That picture (shown) is from the test run when they were running the water. There were so many amazing moments from the visit but that was probably the most impactful. To see that water turn on and see their appreciation… those kids don’t know any better. All they know is going to have to fetch water every day so to see them react in that way, it almost made me break down and cry.

“I can’t to go back again, hopefully, as a World Vision ambassador. “I’d love to go back and help and then see the progress they’ve made in over a year.”