The statement above is quite true. We need food and all our food needs water to grow and cook. We need shelter and everything needed to build from concrete to timber needs water. We need clothing and both cotton and wool cannot be grown without water.
Therefore, physically speaking, everything we need begins with water. We drink it either as coffee, tea or “straight up” with ice – or not. We cook with it. We bathe in it. We wash our clothes in it. Without water the human race would simply cease to exist in less than a few weeks.
It is no wonder, then, that water is a major concern of Rotary International and individual Rotarians around the world. There are over 1,000 water and sanitation Matching Grants open at any moment totalling approximately US$20 million. Of these Matching Grants, one-third (currently 317) are based in Africa. This means that US$6,814,488.43 has been given by Rotarians from all parts of the globe to supply clean water and proper sanitation to the people with whom we live, work and play.
Numbers are important and we all study the statistics. However, the numbers do not say enough.
Each of these 317 projects has a story. For each project there is someone who saw a need, took that need to heart and said “I can do something to make things better.” Behind the statistics, figures and $-signs are the people who make these projects both necessary and feasible.
Let me give you an example of a story from few years ago:
I serve as the Chairman of the Luanshya District Education Board. As a part of my duties I made a site visit with several board members to Kasongo Basic School in a small village about 15 kilometres from Luanshya. When we arrived I asked the head teacher, Mr Chileshe, “What is your biggest problem in the school?”
His answer was as immediate as it was urgent: “Dysentery.” I asked him how many students were in the school and he told me there were 756 students. When I asked him how many suffered from dysentery he again replied, “756.” He also explained that the teachers and staff were also suffering from this same ailment.
Mr Chileshe showed us the water source for the school and much of the village. It was a shallow, hand-dug well that was extremely polluted. He pulled up the bucket used to draw the water and I saw that it was a rusted paint tin. The problem was obvious…
So was the solution.
I approached my Rotary Club with the need and some of the Rotarians went with me to see the well. We approached in Rotary Club of Marietta Metro, Georgia, USA, about partnering with us and The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. They wholeheartedly agreed and within a few months the village and school had a new 50-metre deep water well with an India Mark 2 hand pump.
Six weeks after the installation of the pump I returned to Kasongo Basic School and met with My Chileshe, his staff and the students. He proudly announced that there was not a single case of dysentery amongst the student body, teachers or school staff. The students cheered and sang praises to Rotary.
This is Rotary “Doing Good in the World”
Now… My story is, as I said, a few years old. We want to hear your story of today. How has a water and/or sanitation project in your district in Africa made a difference in your community? How many lives have you been able to impact through the generosity of Rotarians both locally and internationally?
Please send me your story in 250 words or less. (Brevity is a blessing.) If you have a picture that can be reduced to less than 200 kilobytes please send that as well. We want to share your victories. We also want to acknowledge those within your district who have been at the forefront of the battle for clean water and proper sanitation in your part of the Rotary World.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Yours in Rotary service,
PGC
