Rotary Westhaven member Clare McCall and her partner Bino Smith, experienced first-hand the stories and met the people whose lives were changed by Rotary and its partners.

Article by PDG Elaine Mead, District 9910 Membership Chair and PP of Rotary Westhaven

For many of us, we never get close to the Rotary Foundation projects supported through our individual and club contributions. But this month, for Rotary Westhaven member Clare McCall and her partner Bino Smith, they got to experience it first-hand. To hear the stories and meet the people whose lives were changed by Rotary and its partners.

After the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, an acute water shortage forced villagers in the Thamdanda area to purchase high priced water for washing, cooking and reconstruction activities for rebuilding their houses. The lack of water also impacted their main income sources, animal husbandry and agriculture.

The villagers were desperate when they met Rabindra Tamang, Clare’s friend and co-founder of their organisation, Himalayan Leaky Foundation, which focuses on assisting Himalayan communities in need. The villagers had pleaded with local and central government for help, without results, and their village was just about abandoned.

Rotary Westhaven, in conjunction with local club Rotary Kavre-Banepa, got a USD125,000 Global Grant to provide safe drinking water, sanitary facilities and to support income generating activities for five villages.

The project installed 8km of pipeline from an identified water source to the impacted villages and established the Thamdanda Water Supply and Sanitation Users Committee, which was accompanied by training in water supply maintenance and management.

Pre-construction training was held in early June 2019 and a blessing conducted on 9 June 2019 before the first construction began. Over the next few months there were challenges with flooding and landslides in areas where the pipeline was laid but despite all this, potable water arrived in the villages on 27 October 2019.

A reliable water supply led to improved crop production which resulted in more produce to take to market and increased income. This has enabled re-builds within the village and expansion into new food crops. More women have become empowered through their involvement in the Thamdanda Water Supply and Sanitation Users Committee and young men are upskilled in pipeline maintenance.

Clare attended the COVID-delayed official handover ceremony at the village on Sunday 2 April, along with representatives from Rotary Kavre-Banepa and media. Clare was told the project is known for its success all over Kavre (a district bigger than Northland) and the ceremony was broadcast on the radio. Some Rotary Westhaven and D9910 members were able to join the official event via Zoom.

"One of my favourite parts of [the ceremony] was meeting the women and this amazing woman said that she is so happy now that she doesn’t have to get up at 1am every day to walk for hours to get water, and she has also donated thousands of dollars from her sold crops to help rebuild a local monastery, paying it forward. Now people are coming back to live in the village and there is life and hope again,” said Clare.

This Thamdanda Nepal Water Supply and Sanitation Global Grant project was supported directly by all the districts in New Zealand, District 3501 (Taiwan), District 9820 (Australia), District 3292 (Nepal), Rotary Westhaven, Rotary Kavre-Banepa, Rotary East Coast Bays, Rotary Henderson and Rotary North Harbour.

Like with all Global Grant projects, it was also supported indirectly by club and/or individual donations to the Annual Fund of The Rotary Foundation

Thank you, Ngā mihi nui, Gamsahamnida and Dherai Dhanyabad,