Rotary eyes Ghana for next Water for Humanity project
By Krissie Rutherford
News
Mar 14, 2007
Tzaneen, South Africa was the first beneficiary. Ghana is next.
Oakville Rotary is once again fundraising to bring fresh water to an underdeveloped country through Water
for Humanity, a global initiative dedicated to delivering clean water to those in need.
After the 2006 campaign brought a system that supplies more than 10,000 people in Tzaneen with fresh
water, Oakville Rotary now has its sights set on two regions in Ghana.
Longtime rotary club member David Angas chaired the first Water for Humanity project, a campaign he began
as incoming president to celebrate Rotary's 100th anniversary.
Angas was one of a handful of Rotary members who went to South Africa on their own dime to see the project
installed, and to see its benefits first-hand.
"How do I put that experience into words. Let's put it this way, I've saved the cup of the first water that came
out of that system," said Angas.
"I cannot tell you what a moving experience it was to see the combined efforts of a lot of people to get this
system installed and running. It remains one of the high points in my life, quite honestly."
And it all began with an idea to bring a fundamental need - water - to a region in need.
"It was as naïve as knocking on the door of Zenon to see if we could somehow get a water system cheap and
install it some place in the world that needed it," said Angas. "That's how it started."
Zenon Environmental Inc. and its suppliers donated a water filtration plant and Oakville Rotary - at that time
the four clubs of Oakville, Oakville Trafalgar, Oakville West and Oakville North - spent more than a year
fundraising for other costs involved.
The whole project, Angas estimates, would have cost $750,000.
But through donations of cash, products and work, Oakville Rotary was able to bring that system to South
Africa by raising $50,000. Their fundraising was leveraged to triple that amount by matching grants from
Rotary International, two Rotary Districts and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
After the success of that first project, the Canadian Rotary International Development Agency invited Oakville
Rotary to get involved with another three-year program.
A committee of 12 is now working on the next project, chaired by Rotary member Ralf Soeder, who went to
South Africa to see the initial project.
At that time, members also got to see the sites suggested in Ghana as another possible location.
"We had numerous applications that came in," Soeder said, "and we narrowed it down to the top five."
The Rotary club has already developed a good relationship with its counterparts in Ghana, one of the
reasons it was selected.
"There's also certainly a need there," said Soeder, who noted the Ghana projects could be finished in a
year's time.
Bringing clean water to those regions will involve drilling bore holes in nine different villages for one site, and
funding a piping and trenching unit to carry water to rejuvenate a sand filter at the other site.
The group, Soeder says, is also looking to bring fresh water to a region in Bolivia. If all three projects
happen, more than 100,000 people will have access to fresh water.
Rotary of Montreal will we helping with one site in Ghana, and Rotary of Cornwall with the other. That means
fundraising will be coming from all over the place.
"It all started with Oakville Rotary clubs and Zenon, and now we're getting other clubs and communities
involved as well," said Soeder. "The initiative has really grown."
The three projects will involve a budget of more than $250,000 from various Rotary Clubs in Canada,
including the five in Oakville and the CIDA.
Fundraising is already underway. Five rotary clubs in Ontario held an African cultural night that raised more
than $10,000 towards the cause.
The Rotary Clubs of Oakville North and Oakville Trafalgar have a fundraiser of their own scheduled for St.
Patrick's Day: The Best of Broadway.
It's a Broadway-style show starring Mamma Mia's Louise Pitre, hosted by comedian Mark Forward and
featuring Theatre Sheridan students.
The Best of Broadway, in benefit for Oakville Rotary's Water for Humanity Project, is March 17 at 8 p.m. at
the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts, 130 Navy St.
Tickets cost $59.99 and are available through the Oakville Centre box office, 905-815-2021 or by visiting
www.oc4pa.ca/boxoffice.htm.
A limited number of VIP tickets, which include access to a catered private artists' reception after the show, are
also available for $89.99.
For more on the Oakville Rotary Water for Humanity project, visit www.rotarywatersite.com.