International projects funded by district grants
Examples of overseas projects run by clubs across our district and funded by district grants. Some are new projects, others show an ongoing relationship between Rotary and the community.
Haddenham & District Rotary Club - Chickens for Tanzania
Members of the Haddenham & District Rotary Club have visited Tanzania since 2005 and at the end of last year we visited again to implement a project that we had agreed with local primary schools in 2013. This project was to provide poultry houses and gardens in these schools.
We have now built a very good relationship with the RC Moshi, RC Machame, the Lions Club in Moshi, ChildreachTz, with two boarding schools for deaf children and a rural primary school in Machame and it is in two of these schools that we are building poultry houses for egg production and manure, and, in another, gardens for garden produce and water harvesting with micro irrigation to extend the growing season.
This project is designed to be self sustaining with the benefit of providing food for the schools or funds for school equipment whilst providing a resource for teaching good horticultural and livestock practice and a basic business model for the children to learn from.
The project has not yet had time to establish itself and a team will again be visiting Moshi in January 2017 to determine if the project can be extended to more schools. We will also then provide a poultry house in another school and complete gardens and water harvesting as necessary in the other two with the help of a District grant and the €4500 raised at our Eurotary 87 meeting in Oxford in September 2015.( Eurotary87 is an annual social meeting of members of European clubs chartered in 1987 who gather in turn at a host club to better understand each other, to enjoy each others’ company and to sponsor a humanitarian project for the host club. We will continue after Brexit!)
During our visit in 2015 we also provided funds to refurbish sewing machines at the vocational school as well as purchasing new tools for the woodworking department. We also gave emergency help with the rebuilding of the kitchen at Msandaka after a fire and provided new swings.
Read more on the Haddenham & District Rotary Club website.
Ken Elphick, September 2016
Reading Matins Rotary Club - helping to bring water to Mutake Primary School in Zimbabwe
Mutake Primary School, near Harare in Zimbabwe is supported by Creating Better Futures and is one of the schools where the charity provides school meals every day for all the pupils. Dorothy Dix, founder and CEO of the charity is a member of Reading Matins Rotary Club and has spoken to many Rotarians in our district about her work and the charity's focus on access to education for children, giving them the opportunity to improve their own futures.
In August 2016, a borehole was completed at Mutake Primary School . Reading Matins Rotary Club contributed £1,000 to the project, the club was awarded a district grant of £1,000 and the Rotary Clubs of Marow Thames and Maidenhead Bridge also supported the project. When the work commenced some weeks ago, they found that the hole required lining and that sheathed cabling was required for the electric pump. This meant that more money was needed and the Reading Family Church helped with this and paid for all the cabling costs. Following the commissioning of the borehole, the club received lots of photos thanking all the sponsors.
Children were previously walking long distances to collect water from open wells and dams that are stagnant and used by animals. The new well at the school will help to improve hygiene and sanitation, and it is expected that attendance at school will improve as sickness from water-borne disease declines.
Visit the Reading Matins Rotary Club website and the Creating Better Futures website
Greg Wilkinson, August 2016
Misbourne Matins Rotary Club - water tanks in Bali, Indonesia
Misbourne Matins has had a long relationship with clubs in Bali. Despite its reputation as a luxury resort there are widespread sections of poverty on the island. The north has little rainfall due to being on the lee side of the mountain and Misbourne Matins along with the RC of Canngu in the south have taken on a project to supply a village of 26 houses each with a rainwater catchment system.
Over the last two years Misbourne Matins has funded twelve tanks, Slough RC has funded five, both clubs benefitting from District Grants available to augment club funding. The Bali club have provided the remaining nine tanks.
Judy Goldie from the Misbourne Matins club was taken by the RC of Canggu in Bali on a all day trip to visit the village. Judy commented “It was wonderful to see how Rotary has changed the lives of the villagers now that they have water for hygiene and a clean drinking supply. Health and quality of life has vastly improved for all especially the children”
The picture shows Judie with some villagers and a completed tank.
August 2016
Banbury Rotary Club - Schools in Sierra Leone
Since 2009 Banbury Rotary Club has received several District Grants to support their work helping develop 4 schools in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The Club has provided funding for several building projects but has used the District Grant system to provide additional funding for supplying equipment to complete the initial work.
District Grants have been received for:
- the provision of desks, benches and blackboards to equip a total of 21 classrooms at the four schools
- to provide pew style benches for a multi purpose hall at one school.
- the refurbishment of a set of “long drop” toilets at one school
the provision of sanitary ware and pipework for the creation of 2 toilet blocks at one school (300+ children had no toilet facilities prior to this)
- to install a hand pump and upgrade a water well at one of the schools
- to provide a basic water harvesting system at one of the schools
We are currently awaiting funds to undertake further water harvesting at 2 of the schools, one project is in partnership with the Rotary Club of Woodstock & Kidlington.
The well at Liverpool Community School was a project supported by the Rotary Club of High Wycombe. The Water Harvesting at Liverpool Community School was partially funded via a Grant to the Rotary Club of Reading Matins in support of Banbury Rotary Club
Alan Wolstencroft, August 2016
Visit AlansAfrica website to read more about the projects.
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Humanitarian Grants: District Grants and Global Grants
back Humanitarian grants from the Rotary Foundation enable Rotarians to support service projects that provide water wells, medical care, literacy classes and other essentials to people in need. Rotarian participation is key to the project's success.