About the project

 

 

 

One of the benefits of the COVID-19 pandemic was how it forced us into the 21st century and using video-conferencing for our weekly meetings.

 

Although folks gradually got "Zoomed out", it did allow us to connect with people from whom we might otherwise not have heard. One such case was the Rotary Club of Roatán.

 

An island in the Caribbean, about 65 kilometres off the northern coast of Honduras, Roatán is located between the islands of Útila and Guanaja, and is the largest of the Bay Islands of Honduras. The island was formerly known in English as Ruatan and Rattan. Click here or on the image above for Google Maps to show you.

 

A member of Rotary Club of Roatán is Shelley Burich, one-time resident of Williams Lake and Communications Director with Cariboo Regional District, and, after a couple of emails, Shelly and her Co-President Mike Wittry were telling us, via Zoom in November 2020, about "Serving Rotary in a Third World Country During a Pandemic". Our general reaction was "...and we thought we had it tough!"

 

(A link to Mike and Shelly's slide presentation is in the menu, left).

 

As often happens in Rotary, one thing leads to another and we were being invited to participate in a project to restore the water supply to the community of Juticalpa, located in the interior of Roatán and home to about 750 people. Most residents work in tourism, construction, and the fishing industry; the average monthly income per family is only US$750. 

 

The existing water source

 

 

 

At the time, only 60% of the community had access to a limited water supply, a well that takes one to two days to fill the community water tank - the remaining 40% has no access to water. The reality of that well is, during the winter months, water is available one day a week; during the summer, that availability drops to one day every two weeks. 

 

Click on the image below for a video telling the story of how Rotary Club of Fair Lawn Sunrise, New Jersey, got involved: 

 

 

With the construction of a new solar-powered well, along with improved gravity feed distribution system, water will reach 100% of the population and increase the volume of water available to each household throughout the community. In addition, WASH training (water, sanitation and hygiene) will be delivered to all adults and children, and every household will have suitable water containers to prevent disease.

 

It didn't take long for us to decide to be involved but our challenge was having held no fundraising events since March 2020. Nevertheless, we committed US$500...whereupon AC&D Insurance committed another US$250 and Cariboo Water donated CAD$250...so we upped the overall commitment from Quesnel to US$1,000.

 

In turn, the other Cariboo clubs also stepped up to bring a total Cariboo commitment to US$2,000 (not a fortune, but none of us had any money!). Against this and similar commitments from a myriad of other Rotary clubs, Rotary Club of Fair Lawn Sunrise and Rotary Club of Roatán successfully pursued a Rotary Foundation Global Grant to invest a total of US$83,000!

 

To follow the progress of the project, click here for the dedicated webpage of Rotary Club of Fair Lawn Sunrise.