Nepal

Nepal The Country

• A land of beautiful scenery.
• A land rich in culture.
• A land of 29 million people, where many are very poor.  
• 4 million of its people work abroad in order to make a living.
• A land flowing with water. But so little of this water is safe.
• Sanitary practices are primitive.
• Hygiene is basic. 10,000 children die each year from diarrhoea related illnesses.
• In rural areas most houses have no tap water, very few have toilets. Open defecation is common.
• Many schools have no toilets. When girls reach puberty they stop going to school.
• Many women spend more than 2 hours a day collecting water from unsafe springs, often having to walk great distances.

Nepal is a land where lives can be greatly improved through water, health and sanitation projects.

Since 2004 some 10,949 lives in 9 communities have been transformed because of the input of Elgin Rotary in partnership with these communities, NEWAH(the Nepal Water for Health Group), Rotarians in Nepal and with the support of 45 other Rotary Clubs in North East Scotland, Durham Rotary in England and Rotary Grants.

Healthier, Stronger Communities

Rotary Water Projects change lives.

They bring a shared purpose in delivering and sustaining:

• Ready access to pure water
• Improved hygiene. Hand washing becomes the norm.
• Improved health, with new health workers trained in the community.
• New educational opportunities, especially for girls and women.
• New economic opportunities, especially with food production.
• Empowerment for women, who now have more positive time to spend on economic opportunities, education, childcare and being active participants on village committees.
• New skills in building and in water engineering.