Update on Ndandini Water Project
Our club is one of 25 Rotary clubs that have raised the US $70,200 required for Phase 1 of the water project including the US $25,000 that the Rotary Foundation was unable to provide matching grants for. Phase 1 is now underway which will see the drilling of the well and installation of pump and power for Ndandini Village in Eastern Kenya near Kitui. Ndandini is in a very arid area which has suffered from drought for over 10 years and there is a severe food shortage.
The project was initiated by Terry Umbach of the Sechelt Rotary Club who first visited the village in September 2007. A travel consultant, Terry took a group of people on Safari in Kenya. As part of the trip, he arranged for the group to visit the remote village of Ndandini in eastern Kenya.
The Water and Sanitation Rotary Action Group (WASRAG) is now looking for clubs to donate US $5000 and become a project partner in a Phase 2 extension with our Phase 1 partners: Sunshine Coast BC club, Nairobi Industrial Area, Nanaimo North and the Mid-Vancouver Island WCS group BC, Moorsetown NJ, Saint John NB, Aalborg Stigsborg Denmark, and three clubs from Spain - Vitoria, Terrassa and Palencia.
Phase 2 is planned to implement a community garden employing drip-irrigation using water from the well, the proceeds of which will be used to support the ongoing operation of the well and provide income for other initiatives of benefit to the village. Phase 1 will see us drill a deep well, provide pump and diesel generator and large water storage tank to provide potable water to the 1000 villagers who currently have to walk up to 10km to a dry riverbed and dig in the sand looking for seeping moisture. Along with the well, we will be introducing essential sanitation related education.
There is no electricity in this area. We visited this village in September 2007 and again for a 3 week trip in February 2009 during which we began detailed project planning with contractors, a local project manager with extensive local water project experience and local people who are doing charitable work in the area. We have quotes from local drilling contractors, equipment suppliers and water tank fabrication firms. We are hoping to get the borehole drilled within the first several months of 2010. Phase 2 will most likely be a non-matching grant project as TRF has no available funds and we are hoping to undertake the Phase 2 work immediately upon completion of the Phase 1 well project. We already have a non-Rotary donor who is willing to contribute $5000 as long as we have Rotary club involvement in the Phase 2 extension. More info is available at http://www.onevillageatatime.ca or from Terry Umbach at tumbach@travelmasters.ca . Terry visited the village in 2007 and 2009 and is our primary project person.
There are several international Rotary Clubs who are actively considering joining our project: Belleville Ontario Canada, Kenora Ontario Canada, and Festus City Missouri USA.
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