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Our invocation was offered by Katie Johnson while Keith Olson served as our song leader. We welcomed Keith Brokke from the Fargo-Moorhead AM Club and Gary Spies to our meeting before hearing encouraging words to sell our Lucky Duck Derby tickets. Keith Olson than asked those assembled to consider if we could step up our peach sales to possibly replace the funds we raise through the rose sale, as we will no longer have Sunmart to use as our distribution point for the latter. A special Paul Harris Fellow presentation was made to Gary Spies for his past assistance to our club and support of the Fergus Falls community. John MacFarlane remarked on how much Gary has done for Fergus Falls and the encouragement he regularly offers to anyone seeking his advice. Gary thanked the club for the award and noted that Fergus Falls is really the best place in the world to live and work. Our program was brought to us by Dan Venberg, whose official position is Mission Mobilizer and Recruiter for the Lutheran Brethren International Mission. Dan has spent most of his life in Africa and is the one responsible for bringing us the opportunity to install 18 new water wells in needy rural communities in Chad. Lutheran Brethren members originally contributed $8000, to which our club and the Fargo-Moorhead AM Club each added $1,010.00. Our Rotary District than approved an allocation of $10,000 of Rotary Foundation Funds that it decides how to be spent, and an additional $15,000 was received from The Rotary Foundation World Fund (administered by the Trustees of the Foundation), bringing the total funds raised to over $35,000 (actually, Lutheran Brethren members added an additional $4,000+ before all was said and done). The original plan was to install 12 water wells in 12 separate communities but we are able to exceed that goal by six. Dan reported that only 51% of the population in Chad has access to safe drinking water. Diarrheal diseases caused by contaminated water is in the top three leading causes of childhood death in the country, the other two being malaria and pneumonia. It is believed that clean water has the potential to relieve 10% of the global disease burden. In 2010, it was estimated that Chad women and children walked an average of 3.7 miles a day to fetch water, whether it was clean or unsanitary. Eight out of 10 people who do not have access to clean water live in Chad's rural areas, and that is why the wells we helped install were located in small rural communities. Dan told us that the recipient villages have to support the effort financially or otherwise, which results in by-in to the continued maintenance of the wells. Before installing a well a community assessment is completed, analyzing the need for clean water, the current status of the town's water source, the need articulated by community members and receptivity to the project. Finally, there must be active community participation. Chadian crews install the wells, with a typical depth of 150 feet, plus or minus 25 feet. They make sure the well is drawing from the second aquifer so that the drought experienced nine months of the year does not effect the availability of water. The wells are typically dug by hand, with a spindle being turned by hand, and this usually takes two days for each well. The well is a heavy-duty "Mark India 2 pump," and uses a lever action hand pump; parts are widely available in Chad. Dan said each well costs about $3,000 and noted that the average Chaian makes about $200 a year. Each well is expected to serve a population of up to 300. After wells are installed there are regular well checks and maintenance instructions through on-going visits to the recipient communities; they will also use these visits to provide other needed items, such as mosquito netting. Dan expressed his appreciation to Helene Doumro, the local Rotarian who was our and his local contact. He also quoted one of the chiefs of a community in which a well was installed, who said that there is a saying that "Faith is Where You Put Your Feet," and that he expressed his thanks for walking in their village. Dan thanked Rotary for supporting this project and all the good it has accomplished. |
