ShelterBox Update: Water, just like shelter, is a human right

Whoever you are, wherever you are, you are entitled to clean, safe water. But today, billions of people around the world do not have access to clean and safe water. According to WHO/UNICEF, 2.1 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water services. 

Disasters force families out of their homes, making it difficult to access clean drinking water. Disasters cause a huge amount of damage and destruction. Water hand pumps break. Local water sources get filled up with debris, dirt, or chemicals, making it unsafe to drink. 

When families are unable to access clean water, water filters can help produce safe drinking water. Water filters distributed by ShelterBox can remove viruses, bacteria, pathogens, chemical, heavy metals, and fecal matter found in contaminated water. These water filters can turn up to 1,000 litres of unsafe water into clean, safe, drinkable water.

Maïramu and her family of seven were displaced when their village in Nigeria was attacked by Boko Haram. Like many refugees, the most difficult problem that Maïramu faces daily is access to safe drinking water. 

“We started to get sick,” she says. “After a while, I noticed that my children and I were having frequent stomach aches and diarrhea. I realized it was caused by the water.”

Watch District Governor Jim Ferguson’s message for March (Water and Sanitation Month)

After receiving a ShelterBox water filter, Maïramu and her family no longer suffer from sickness and diarrhea. 

“Thanks to the filter, I can assure you that our problems concerning water are no longer related to sickness, but related to distance, because we still have to travel a long way to collect it,” she says. “Today, we drink water without fear.”

Having access to clean water reduces the risk of illness caused by bacteria and other pathogens found in dirty water. By providing families with water containers and water filters, we can make safe drinking water one less thing to worry about. To learn more about how you can support families with clean water after disasters, visit: https://www.shelterboxcanada.org/world-water-day-provide-clean-water/

TRF Global Grants fund water and sanitation projects in Africa and South America proposed by District 5370 clubs

© Rotary International/Alyce Henson

Global Grants from The Rotary Foundation that were recently awarded to the Rotary Clubs of Wainwright and Spruce Grove mean that students at a school in northern Ghana and residents of a community in rural Ecuador will soon have access to clean drinking water.

The Rotary Club of Wainwright’s project, in partnership with the Rotary Club of Tamale, Ghana, will result in “the installation of a system for harvesting rainwater from the roof of the existing building at La’angum Primary School (in Ghana), during the rainy season and storing it for later use,” says George Bunz, the club’s Foundation chair.

The Rotary Club of Revelstoke, BC is also contributing money to this project.

Meanwhile, Rotarians from Spruce Grove have partnered with the Rotary Club of Bahia de Caraquez to construct a municipal water system in Santa Teresa, Ecuador. The Rotary Club of Reno, Nevada is implementing a similar project in the adjacent community of Las Mercedes.

When completed, the new water systems in Ecuador will serve about 800 residents of the two villages, under the management of an elected water board.

“Prior to the 2016, the community got its water from a hand-drilled well, but this was destroyed by that year’s earthquake,” says Brad Mastaler, president-elect of the Spruce Grove club.

How Global Grants work

Global Grants are made possible by donations to TRF by Rotarians from around the world.

In addition to money from TRF’s World Fund, funding for these projects comes from other sources, including from the participating clubs and from the District  Foundation committee (District Designated Funds).

The amount of money available to our District Foundation committee for District Designated Funds is determined by how much Rotarians from our District contribute to TRF. Half of what was donated by Rotarians in our District three years earlier is returned to the committee, to be used for District grants to clubs and to support Global Grant applications.

Global Grants fund projects in the six areas of focus for TRF: disease prevention and treatment, water and sanitation, maternal and child health, basic education and literacy, economic and community development, and peace and conflict prevention/resolution.

For more information on how Global Grants work, check out TRF’s Guide to Global Grants. In addition, you can consult the District 5370 Foundation grants sub-committee chair, Wayne McCutcheon (RC of St. Albert), at wsm@shaw.ca or District Foundation chair Wayne Kauffman (RC of Edmonton Riverview), at wkauffman@shaw.ca.

Support future TRF Global and District Grants by donating to TRF Canada. Donate before the end of December to receive a receipt you can use when filing your 2018 tax return.

Wainwright project will bring clean drinking water, improved toilets and biogas for school in Ghana

The school being supported by the Wainwright Rotary Club is located in Bumboazio, in northern Ghana, a region that is much less developed than in the south. Families there earn their living by farming small plots of land to produce corn, beans, peanuts and millet.

Because drilling water wells has proved unsuccessful, the school is “dependent on water carried by children from a creek, which is some distance away,” George Bunz says.

The installation of storage tanks will be a very important component of the project, as most water will be collected during the rainy season and stored for later use.

Each classroom will have a filter system, to ensure access to clean water.

As part of the project, an existing four-seat toilet will be upgraded and a new four-seat toilet built, along with a solar pump to utilize grey water to flush the toilets.   A bio-digester will convert waste to biofuel to be used in the kitchen to prepare lunchtime meals for the 300 students who attend the school.

“The biogas will make a big difference,” George says. “Currently meals are prepared on stoves that burn wood, which women and children have to carry to the school. The project will relieve the women of this task so they have time for other work and will improve the environment by eliminating the smoke from burning wood.”

Funding for this project (in US dollars):

Rotary Club of Wainwright $14,250

District 5370 DDF $14,250

TRF World Fund $21,375

Total:$49,875

Projects will bring clean water to 800 residents of villages in rural Ecuador

Construction of the water system in Santa Teresa will begin after the end of the rainy season in March.

The project involves drilling and encasing a water well, creating storage and water treatment facilities, laying distribution lines to each residence, and installing water meters.

Rotary will sign memorandums of agreement with Ecuador’s federal and municipal governments, which will provide paid staff to operate the system.

The long-term sustainability of the project will be ensured by the establishment of an elected water board, whose members will be trained to operate the system.

A public education component will teach adults about water conservation and how to avoid contamination. Teachers will be trained to take a similar message into their classrooms.

Funding for this project (in US dollars):

Rotary Club of Spruce Grove $9,375

Districts 5370 & 4400 DDF $8,860

Government of Alberta $7,750

TRF World Fund $17,423

Total$43,408

Rotarians from both Wainwright and Spruce Grove plan to visit their projects during construction.