THE WATER WHEELS PROJECT
Our latest international project
Our latest update
Back in May 2024 our Club joined a project organised by the Rotary Club of Midhurst & Petworth which distributed 100 plastic water barrels to Maasai villagers in the Moshi region of Tanzania.
The barrels, each with a capacity of 30 litres of water, come with an easy-to-operate handle so that they can be rolled from a water source to a villager’s house. They are produced in East Africa by a Rotarian based on the Isle of Wight and are designed to replace the traditional way of carrying water which is by a heavy jerrican balanced on the head, often for a distance of several kilometers, with all the back pain and other health problems that can ensue.
This year, in October 2025, we were pleased to join with a further 10 Clubs from our District on a much larger programme, again masterminded by RC Midhurst & Petworth, distributing almost 1,000 barrels to rural populations in coastal Kenya.
The logistics, transport and government permissions were managed by a collection of Rotary and Rotaract Clubs in and around Kilifi and Mombasa. On distribution day hundreds of villagers had converged on the local government offices and after a brief demonstration of how easy it was to use the barrels, each family received one along with some cassava flour.
Graeme Loten from our Club’s International Committee attended both the distributions in Tanzania and in Kenya, and we are now hoping that the excellent cooperation demonstrated by Clubs both here and in Africa might lead to further collaborative projects.
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We are currently embarking on a major new project spearheaded by Midhurst and Petworth Rotary Club. They are supporting the distribution of Water Wheels in Tanzania, to help villagers bring water to the village in a much more efficient and practical way.
What are water wheels? Well, imagine an office water dispenser, made of stronger plastic, turned on its side, and having a handle added so that it can be pulled along the ground efficiently carrying a large amount of water. This is the type of task the women in the village can do while looking after babies and, an important point, it stops children carrying heavy buckets on their heads or shoulders and frees them up to go to school.The first project is with a village in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania, where currently the children are having to walk five miles to the nearest water hole. We hope to deliver the first water wheels later on this year.
From an environmental perspective, local plastic recycling facilities are not available and, what's more, because they are carrying water for drinking they have to be made from virgin material. However, we expect the waterwheels to have a life of around ten years and after that they can be recycled into other uses, like planters, water containers, sinks etc. As importantly is the fact that it will free up children to have a proper education.
It's a very interesting project. The local Rotary Club is managing the delivery in Tanzania and Midhurst and Petworth RC is managing the project in general and coordinating the funding - another example of Rotary clubs coordinating on an international basis.
The following video shows the handing over ceremony in Moshi
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