Clean Drinking Water in Ghana, Within Your Reach – Grab It

FROM A LETTER SENT TO CLUB AND OTHER LEADERS IN ROTARY DISTRICT 6780 IN TENNESSEE

We’re writing you today to share important news about an opportunity to make a difference – bringing clean water to villages in Western Ghana. You are being contacted because of your leadership positions in Rotary District 6780, your commitment to service and your ability to connect this opportunity with others.

We can get you more details but here’s the gist of it:

Rotarians from the Crossville and Cookeville Breakfast Rotary Clubs with help from others in the district, have been engaged in water well drilling work in Ateiku, Ghana for several years. The payoff has been 39 Rotary supported wells that are serving tens of thousands of people who would otherwise have to travel miles to collect surface water of questionable quality – parasites like guinea worm and diseases like typhoid were common water-borne afflictions.

The success of the water project was the result of Rotary funding the purchase of a basic water drilling rig, a vehicle and materials, along with training for a team in Ghana. The rig enabled them to go deeper to produce more reliable wells than the previous hand-dug wells were able to do. For a number of years they have been building wells across a wide region around Ateiku. Rotary’s partners in Ghana, an organization called the REDP, now have an opportunity to move the water well production work to a new level. Based on the results they have produced a number of people – the Government of Ghana, non-governmental organizations, and individuals – have offered contracts to produce wells for a fee. However, REDP needs new equipment to step up to these offers. A new drilling rig is necessary for two reasons: First, the current rig has been worked hard for a number of years and is in need of overhaul or replacement. Second, and more importantly, the first rig was not capable of drilling in rocky soil and the requests for new work will include areas where rocky ground will probably be encountered. With the old rig if they set up and drill into a rock, they’re done, no well. Also, the truck and support equipment they have been using for years are in need of replacement.

So here’s the concept being pursued by Rotarians who have been engaged in this project for years. A total of $53,000 is needed to buy a new rig, the right rig for the proposed work, a vehicle and support materials. Rather than raise money and provide a grant we propose to make a loan to the REDP so they can accept and perform the contract work, and pay back the funds provided. This would give them a sustainable ability to produce clean drinking water, wells in expanded areas of Western Ghana.  It would give them the capability to continue well drilling into the future without periodic interventions for support.

Scot Shanks, of Crossville and Pat Ryan of Cookeville Breakfast have approached a number of Rotarians – clubs and individuals – to offer the opportunity to take a “share” of the loan, currently set at $5,000 a share, to make the financial transactions more manageable. So far $20,000 has been pledged from four individuals – including the organizers of this effort who wanted to be sure to have “skin” in the game. One Rotary club has indicated an interest in splitting a share with another club or individual.

The conditions for the loan are non-interest, to keep it simple, with payback beginning six months after the project is initiated, with a target final payment made 24 months later. It is not a secured loan and there are no guarantees on repayment. It is the good faith of our partners in Ghana, the Rural Evangelical Development Project in Ateiku, that District 6780 Rotarians have come to know over the years. Scot Shanks and Pat Ryan will remain engaged in the project over the term and will be traveling to Ateiku in June 2011 to coordinate on this work and other service projects.

With about a month left to collect pledges for the funds we are seeking Rotary clubs and/or individuals to snap up the remaining six shares. That’s all that’s needed to get it done. And everyone who gets this letter already knows that providing clean drinking water in parts of the world that don’t have it is a game-changer. If you check the ‘overview’ video on the www.RotaryGhanaProject.com web site you’ll be reminded of what this is all about.

Please consider this opportunity to make a difference. Talk with your club’s Rotarians and share this information with other individuals who might want to participate. If one full share is not in a club’s or individual’s range please check with other clubs and individuals nearby to see if joining together is possible.

You can get more information and/or a club visit/briefing by contacting Scot Shanks or Pat Ryan.

TIME IS SHORT FOR US TO GET THIS DONE.  WE NEED PLEDGES OR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST BY SEPTEMBER 30, 2010.  PLEASE ACT TODAY!

p. s. We again thank all the clubs that donated to last year’s Rotary Ghana Project work in Ateiku making possible the ad hoc medical health clinic set up during the Rotary visit. The Rotarians who were there can testify that your support produced magnificent results. There are over 1,000 people who were seen at the clinic who now know that the words Rotary + Tennessee = Hope.

The Rotary Ghana Project is an ad hoc committee formed by members of the Crossville Rotary Club and the Cookeville Breakfast Rotary Club to facilitate international service work – water projects, school literacy work, medical support, etc. – and we welcome active participation by others. Please check the web site for more information, especially through the videos that were produced during the last visit to Ateiku.

Scot Shanks, Crossville Rotary Club
Tel: 931.484.5155 x118 / email: scot.shanks@gmail.com
Patrick W. Ryan, Cookeville Breakfast Rotary Club
Tel: 931.261.2353 / email: patryan@rotaryghanaproject.com

Tagged as: Water Wells