Rotary Clubs Unite To Save Lives In Ghana

Frank Scahill, president of the Danbury Sunrise Rotary Club, has presented a check to Chris Hoeffel, Newtown Rotary international service director, for a large water project that will enable people from two villages in Ghana to obtain safe drinking water.

The unit will be installed in a clinic located between two villages. The clinic was built by the local Rotary Club in Ghana to assist in giving the local families medical service and with this water-purifying unit they will have access to safe drinking water for the very first time.

A unit to serve about 1,000 people costs about $23,000, including shipping and installation. Therefore a project of this size needs the support of more then one Rotary Club. The Newtown Rotary Club has a mission to furnish as many units as possible with the help of other Rotary Clubs and private donations.

There are 1.2 billion people on earth who still do not have access to safe drinking water. Approximately 3.4 million people die annually as a result, most of them children. The World Health Organization states that eight children die due to bad water every two minutes every day. Once this water purification system is installed in Ghana, life in these villages will drastically improve.

Anyone interested in saving lives can do so by making a contribution to the Newtown Rotary Foundation. The object is to make safe drinking water available to everyone within a designated area of Ghana. Once that is accomplished and statistics on the health and welfare of the people show a drastic improvement, the Rotarians plan to lead an effort help other areas of Ghana, then all of Africa, and eventually all the world.