Rotary Water Project with So. Kampala Club in Uganda

Water Project with South Kampala Rotary in Uganda
Rick Olson is a retired professional with a variety of educational and life experiences. He has worked as an economist, an attorney, a certified financial planner, an agricultural loan officer, an agricultural cooperative president, a State Representative in Michigan and a public school business manager. He obtained a Juris Doctor degree from Stanford Law School and completed the coursework in two Ph.D. programs (Agricultural Economics and Education Administration). As an active Rotarian since early 2017, he has flown to the Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda three times since February 2020 to guide a non-profit organization he founded to assist the refugees at Best Future School and led the effort on two Rotary International Global Grants for Nakivale. He is presenting today about the needs of the Kyak II Refugee camp in Uganda. See "Read More" for more details
 
 

Kyaka II refugee settlement was established in 2005 to receive the remaining population of Kyaka I following the mass repatriation of Rwandan refugees the same year.[2] After this movement, Kyaka I was closed. Around mid-December 2017, renewed violence in DRC - Democratic Republic of Congo led to a new refugee influx into Uganda, with an estimated 17,000 new refugee arrivals in Kyaka II.[2]

Since December 2017, Kyaka II’s refugee population has quadrupled, following the arrival of tens of thousands of refugees from DRC fleeing conflict and inter-ethnic violence in North Kivu and Ituri.[3] There are more than 113,000 refugees already living in the settlement. Kyaka II is managed by the UNHCR and the Ugandan Office of the Prime Minister's Department of Refugees

Rick Olson gave a detailed presentation about the history and need for support to improving the water situation in the Kyaka II refugee settlement in the  Ugandan areas of Bujubuli, Bukere, Sweswe and Buliti. The needs of each area were defined - to improve the quantity and quality of water in facilities and to improve solid waste management. This need has been brought about by a vast influx of refugees in Uganda. More below:
"Due to the vast influx of refugees that is caused by the unending war in the Democratic Republic of Congo; a lot of concerns about water, sanitation and hygiene have been raised in the settlement camp. • And since rotary’s six areas of focus are set to solve pressing community needs. The Rotary Club of Kampala South in partnership with UNHCR and OXFAM set off for a needs assessment exercise around areas of Bujubuli, Bukere, Sweswe and Buliti. • Most of the findings were generates from individual interviews and site visits like Buliti and Sweswe water treatment plant, the Bukere Solid waste Management Point"
Because of the increasing growth in the number of refugees in this resettlement camp, the team realized that there are lot of concerns about health, WASH, maternal and child health and environment conservation that need our intervention as Rotary. And from this needs assessment we managed to capture data around WASH and the environmental conservation . The following are the issues we highlighted that need our immediate attention;
• A reservoir tank; to increase the quantity of water supplied during the dry seasons
• A mobile laboratory; to improve the quality of water
• Extension of electricity to the Bujubuli water pipe system
• Plastic recycling plant; making different creative molds from the disposed plastics.
Request for Funding Assistance for a Water Project in Kyaka II Refugee Settlement, Uganda
Project: Add a 70,000 liter settling tank and a 100,000 liter storage tank in Kyaka II Refugee Settlement in Uganda. Kyaka II is one of several refugee settlements in Uganda, with about 125,000 refugees there. Kyaka II has 151 water points mostly fed by springs and 62 bore holes, but scant safe drinking water. The refugees receive an average of 12.2 liters per person per day of safe drinking water, the equivalent of your flushing your toilet twice per day.
The project site supplies 17-20% of the settlement’s supply of safe drinking water. With the additional settling tank (supplemented by high doses of chlorine) for water to be pumped up to the additional 100,000 tank on top of the hill, the supply of safe drinking water from this single source would be doubled. Thousands of refugees would live healthier lives.
This Rotary Global Grant is sponsored by the Kampala South Rotary Club (Uganda) and requested by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Rick Olson (founder of Best Future Center supporting refugees in Uganda and lead member on two Rotary Global Grants in Nakivale Refugee Settlement) with the Prior Lake Rotary Club has committed to raise $30 – 40,000 for this project.
Request: Please send a Letter of Commitment to Rick Olson, Prior Lake Rotary,
3051 202nd Ct. E., Prior Lake, MN 55372, 320 248 9933, olson48176@gmail.com on club letterhead in the form as follows. The funds will be requested to be sent to the Prior Lake Rotary for transfer to Uganda once the grant is approved by The Rotary Foundation.
“The Rotary Club of __________ is happy to support the South Kampala Rotary Club’s Global Grant: “Improving Access to Water in Kyaka II Refugee Settlement, Uganda”, Grant number (to be determined).
The Rotary Club of _____________ will provide $____ towards this grant.”
Thanks for your support.  
I am sure that the Board of the Carmichael Club will be taking up consideration of this very worthwhile project.