Vanuatu Village Benefits from new Facilities which met community needs

Article by PDG Lindsay Ford D9910 Vanuatu Projects Coordinator, PDG Peter Smith D9910 District Rotary Foundation Chair and PDG Grant Spackman Assistant Regional Rotary Foundation Coordinator

This Water and Sanitation Global Grant project successfully met the community needs providing flushing toilets, handwashing facilities and safe drinking water for the pupils of the Abanga Primary School and for Asanvari village on Maewo Island, Vanuatu.

Asanvari Village is situated at the southern end of Maewo Island 150km south east of Santo in Vanuatu. Access to Asanvari is only by a mountainous bush track down the west coast of the island, or by sea.

In 2019 The Rotary Club of Santo responded to a request from the community to upgrade their deteriorating infrastructure.

The Abanga Primary School in Asanvari suffered severe damage following Cyclone Pam in 2015 and subsequent cyclones including Cyclone Harold in 2020. The community were very keen to support the proposal from the Rotary Club of Norfolk Island and the Rotary Club of Santo, for Global Grant funding to provide new facilities. The complex consisting of a 40m2 school building with adjacent toilets, sanitation and water collection unit was approved by The Rotary Foundation in July 2020.

Despite the COVID conditions everyone managed to overcome the difficulties that arose, such as material shortages and shipping issues. The project was completed in time for commencement of the 2021 school year. The complex will also act as a safe house for villagers during cyclones or earthquakes and has full water reticulation and storage collected from the abundance of water available on Maewo Island.

This Water and sanitation Project has provided increased student capacity along with flushing toilets, handwashing facilities, safe drinking water and water storage in times of drought or disaster, available to everyone in the community.

The main feature photo, downloaded from Rotary Oceania website