A Rotary Partner club proposes a follow-on project

A visit to a Rotary water and/or sanitation project can be life changing. 

Just 2 months ago a Rotarian from Saint John (New Brunswick, Canada), one of our 25 partner Rotary clubs, visited Ndandini to witness first hand the completed Ndandini well project.  While there Greg Jewett used his skills and experience to teach the primary school teachers how to make better use of the computer and internet link which we had just given to them, now that we have installed solar lighting and power in the school.  He says "I made 1200 friends at the 6 schools in the area" and "the people are so friendly and thankful" for the contributions that have been made towards improving the welfare of the village.

 Now, just this week Greg tells us that he and his Rotary club intend to help start a new Rotary project.  This new project will help bring the 19,000 litres of water an hour that the well can deliver closer to the village where over 3000 people live.  Fundraising and project planning have already begun.

With support from partner Rotary clubs, like we did this year to drill the well, we hope to install some 4km of piping and, using solar powered pumps, fill water storage tanks in the village. Women and children will then no longer have to walk many kilometres to fetch water which takes so much time away from the childrens' studies and from the women's many family responsibilities.

If you think your Rotary Club would like to become a partner in our success in Ndandini, perhaps in this new pipeline project, send me an email terryumbach@hotmail.com to start the ball rolling.  If your interests are in other related areas such as improving sanitation at schools or literacy (possibly by providing improved educational aids like solar powered computers for teachers at the other 5 primary schools) or implementing a computer lab at the local secondary school, let's talk.  The needs are so great and there are many small and inexpensive projects that could be done quickly.

We continue our work to build a village development model that hopefully can be replicated in many places.  Bridging Continents and Building Communities - Starting with Water.

Please read the many posts in this blog.  So much good is being done in the Ndandini area because of the interest and generosity of many Rotarians and non-Rotarians working together.

Terry