International Service Committee Updates

 

If you missed Janet Foerster’s presentation on May 5, meet the two young women from Tanzania who are studying for their degree in Social Work thanks to scholarship funding from the Rotary Club of Colorado Springs — Meryn Buchocho and Namara Rwegoshara — and our Tanzanian partner, Dr. Theresa Kaijage, the founder of the Department of Social Work at Hubert Kairuki Memorial University (HKMU) in Dar es Salaam!

 

 

PEN in Ghana used the funds our club provided to purchase recording equipment to deliver professional quality teacher training lessons.  This capability makes it possible to expand their hands on approach beyond Ghana.  Recently they hosted a representative of the Ministry of Education of Liberia and have conducted teacher development training in several other sub-Saharan African countries.

 

At EarthX in Dallas, over 150,000 attended the event that straddles Earth Day each year. The Rotary Pavilion featured Colorado-made water tech used in projects all over the world by H2OpenDoors and Global Water First. Speakers on the stage included Mark Maloney, Past RI President, Jon Kaufman and Jack Barker, President of Innovative Water Technologies in Rocky Ford and a recipient of a Paul Harris Fellowship.

 

   

 

The first stage of a new water enterprise in Kenya began last month with the drilling of an 800 foot deep borehole. Next are elevated tanks and a bottle sanitizing and filling building to produce an estimated 500 20L bottles per day. The entire facility will be solar-powered and expectations for sales to commence are mid June from this homestead an hour outside of Nairobi. The project is funded by a Program Related Investment for around $95,000 with all funds plus interest returning to the investors within 3 years for recycled investment all over again.

 

 

A new initiative for use of the PRI method of funding is being planned for American inner cities. Global Water First is starting discussions inn Las Vegas to create a glass bottle water enterprise in the 5^th Ward to employ the marginalized of that community in the bottling and sale of purified water with expectations of annual gross revenue exceeding $3 million. Net profits

will go towards the building of Tiny Homes communities for the homeless. Occupancy will be on conditions of being drug-free, employed and good stewards of the property. The facility will be adjacent to Harrison House, the boarding house that black stars like Sammy Davis Jr and Naty King Cole had to stay in because they weren’t allowed to stay at the hotels they were performing in.