2013 Water & Sanitation Project Initiative
Rotary Club of East Hartford Donates $6,000 To Eighth Water Project in Guatemala
Twenty Rotary Clubs in northern CT and Western MA (Rotary District 7890) have joined together to fund a project that will bring fresh drinking water to a needy community in Guatemala. Clubs from Bloomfield, Broad Brook, Danielson, East Hartford, Enfield, Farmington, Glastonbury, Manchester, Newington, Rockville, Simsbury/Granby, Somers, Torrington, Watertown, Wethersfield/Rocky Hill, Willimantic and Windsor/Windsor Locks, CT along with Massachusetts’ clubs in Palmer, Southwick, West Springfield and Wilbraham/Hampden have raised $37,000 to build a complete gravity fed water system with gray water filters and vented pit latrines for the 90 families (552 people) that live in the rural community of Saquiya, Guatemala. This is the eighth funded project continuing the goal of Rotary International to have every Rotary Club support an international water and sanitation project every year. By working together and pooling their resources, the Rotarians have been successful in adding size and strength to their chosen projects. Two Rotary clubs from neighboring Massachusetts/Rhode Island District 7950, East Greenwich and Wakefield, RI and three clubs from District 7170 in upstate New York, Cortland – Breakfast, Nimmonsburg and Trumansburg also contributed to the project thereby exceeding the original goal of $34,893.
Check Presentation at Manchester Rotary Club
(l to r) Sheryl O'Connor, 2012-13 President EHRC; Zoe Kopp, BPD Past VP; Jennifer Turck, BPD Director of Fund Development; Peter Klock, PP EHRC; Sue Klock, PP EHRC, PDG & District 7890 Foundation Chair; and, George Schoen, 2013-14 President EHRC
District Water Committee Chair and Manchester Rotarian Rick Lawrence again spearheaded the drive to raise the necessary funds by making presentations about the project to the area clubs as well as several other Rotary clubs in Greater Hartford. In February he and his wife traveled to Guatemala to visit the village that was funded the previous year. While there, he documented photographically the improvements and expressions of gratitude displayed by the members of the village, utilizing these during his presentations and showing the Rotarians how important their past contributions were to these indigenous Mayans.
The project’s implementation will be coordinated through Behrhorst Partners for Development (BPD), a non-profit organization with ties to over 60 communities in Guatemala. Behrhorst helps train community-chosen people as traditional birth attendants, a health promoter, a village dispensary manager and someone to oversee use of medical emergency transportation funds. Behrhorst also provides extensive training in hygiene, maintenance of the water system components, micro loans, nutrition, including help in school and home vegetable gardens, as well as educational talks about family planning and birth spacing. In Guatemala over 50% of children suffer from chronic malnutrition.
This Rotary project will help address some of the basic causes of poor health in this area, and will help the villagers address basic sanitation – water systems, gray-water filters and latrines – in order to help prevent the constant illnesses that afflict the population, particularly children.