International
Project in Ecuador November 31, 2012
This
is general information for clubs which have made a commitment or have shown
interest in the Ecuador School Bathrooms project.
Last
year our Murray Rotary Club along with about 11 other clubs took on a major
project in Equador and Columbia to provide restrooms for 48 village schools
that had extremely poor restrooms or no real restroom This all started when global grants were introduced to do large projects
but were limited to pilot districts. 100 districts were chosen from all over the world. To qualify, a
pilot district here had to work with a pilot district in the project area and
had to raise the first $10,000 toward the project. Then matching grants from the district and Rotary International
would be added when the
application was approved. Thus, typically this would increase the total to over
$50,000. Then if corporate sponsors were found to match
the Rotary fund, the total amount
could go over $100,000. Each
restroom building with fixtures along with clean water, education, drain field, etc. costs
about $4,500.
None
of the pilot districts were located in Mexico but districts in Equador and
Columbia were. The districts in
those countries had been providing restrooms for some village schools but at a
very slow pace. So the idea was
raised that if their districts and our district got together using a global grant that many restrooms
could be provided each year. Jerry
Summerhays and Fred Berthrong visited districts in those 2 countries in late
2009 to investigate the starting of a global grant. So 3 global
grants were applied for; one for
Columbia with the Sugarhouse Club ; one for Equador with the Logan Club; and one for educational requirements for both countries with the Murray Club. That project has been ongoing since last year and is
nearly completed. Jerry and Cherie
Summerhays visited both countries in mid November to see how the project is
finishing. The leaders from the
districts there have been overseeing the project and doing a great job. 29 village schools in Equador now have,
or shortly will have, restrooms with clean water and people who have been
trained to maintain them.
They are so pleased with the results that they have asked us
to do this project again. Since
all of the educational materials are already available, that part will be
included in the next 2 global grants.
The Sugarhouse Club will oversee Columbia and the Murray Club will
oversee Equador while the Logan
Club is moving back to a project in Peru.
So to start the new project, we
need to raise $10,000 by July 1, 2013 but must have commitments soon as several
months are needed to apply for and have a global grant approved. Our club will commit to $3,000. We are asking any club that does
not have an international project to join with us by helping to raise the
$7,000 balance. This project then
becomes their project and their members would be welcome to visit Equador next fall when the work gets started. Another visit is likely in 2014. Our district has already set aside $11,000 for this project.
Money for this project can be taken
from this year’s budget or next year’s budget but the commitment to be part of this project needs to be
soon so that we have time to get the global grant and interest corporate
sponsors in helping. Thanks for
your commitment or interest.
