Four Matching Grants for Water Projects
Just over half of our District Clubs supported applications for clean water projects developed on behalf of Governor Ted and all were approved for funding by The Rotary Foundation. The one in Zambia has been completed and the three in India are well under way. All four projects are based at secondary colleges with approximatey 1,500 students each.
Seven clubs were involved in the project in Zambia which overcame the need for students to fill plastic containers from the hand pump over a well already provided by the Rotary Club of Luanshya and carry the contents to their classrooms as well as the toilets - the latter creating a demeaning task for teenage girls.
The submersible pump which replaced the hand pump now delivers water to a large tank on a tower, from where water runs by gravity to the new science and home economics rooms as well as the toilets.
The first two projects in India involve the installation of Reverse Osmosis Units on the basis of one school benefitting for each club supporting the projects. Brakish water is passed under pressure through a semi-permeable membrane leaving the dissolved ions and suspended solids behind. Some 24 secondary colleges are receiving one of the systems and it is expected that the health of students will improve so that their frequent absences though illness will greatly diminish. Click here to see photos.
The fourth and final project was to have provided a well and piping to deliver water to an Ethiopian village north of Addis Ababa but language difficulties were delaying the final development of the application. When in late February it became known that The Foundation was about to cancel further funding this year for the Matching Grants, a decision was taken to revert to an already developed proposal in India which would provide a toilet block to a girls' secondary college as well as reverse osmosis systems in additional colleges. The toilet block is a pilot project to establish whether better attendance of girls is achieved when they no longer need to use the roadsides because their colleges lack toilet facilities.
Apart from the clubs involved in Zambian project, another 7 supported the first in India, 11 the second in India and 9 the fourth and last. This meant that those 9780 clubs contributed 34 amounts of US$500 (US$17,000) to support clean water projects.
DG Ted agreed to the allocation of US$14,000 (US$3,500 for each project) from the District Designated Fund.
Our international sponsor partners contributed US$22,834 and the total of Matching Grants provided by The Rotary Foundation was US$49,584.
The grand total of the four projects came to US$102,41 and special thanks go to Geelong East, Ocean Grove, Drysdale and Highton clubs for each taking on the leadership of a project.
Eddie Loughnan - District 9780 Grants Committee.