The project is titled a Global Grant. The process is to identify a Rotary Club in the host country that will partner with us. Faribault is very fortunate to collaborate with the Rotary Club of Battambang, Cambodia, as this is the area Sam was born. This is especially fortunate because they have previously partnered with another Rotary club to successfully place a water purification plant at another school.
This project will be at a school where children do not have clean drinking water. The installation will include digging a ditch for water storage. From there it will be piped to the equipment we are purchasing and installing to be filtered and purified. Approximately 600 school children and their families will have potable water to drink for the first time in their lives.
Over 1 billion people in the world do not have access to clean water and every day more than 6,000 children die daily from water-related diseases, according to Unicef.
With Sam leading the way we have been able to connect with the leadership of the Battambang club via phone, email and Zoom. This is especially gratifying as Rotary International has a set of guidelines which must be followed to secure the matching grant. Having this communication and working with a club which has previously completed a project makes the likelihood of success very likely. Working at such a long distance is often difficult and prone to missteps along the way.
Not only is it important to identify a need, but we must assure as much as possible that a project is sustainable. We are confident it will be. Cambodians will be trained to maintain the equipment and the community will be able to sell clean water to provide revenue to keep the project going for the long term.
We are confident we can enhance the lives of the people in village by improving their health and welfare. Working with our club, the Battambang club, neighboring clubs and Rotary International we endeavor to live the Rotary motto of Service above self.
