Following the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, an acute water shortage forced villages in the Thamdanda area to purchase high priced water for washing, cooking and rebuilding. The lack of water also impacted their main income sources, animal husbandry and agriculture.
Many of us do not get close to The Rotary Foundation projects supported through our individual and club contributions. But Clare McCall, of the Rotary Club of Westhaven, NZ, has experienced it from start to finish. Earlier this year she got to hear the stories and meet the people whose lives were changed by Rotary and its partners.
The Thamdanda villagers were desperate when they met Rabindra Lama, Clare’s friend and co-founder of their organisation, Himalayan Leaky Foundation, which focuses on assisting Himalayan communities in need. The villagers had pleaded with local and central government for help, without results, and their village was almost abandoned.
The Rotary Club of Westhaven, in conjunction with the local Rotary Club of Kavre-Banepa, received a US$125,000 global grant to provide safe drinking water, sanitary facilities, and to support income generating activities for five villages.
The project installed 8km of pipeline from an identified water source to the impacted villages and established the Thamdanda Water Supply and Sanitation Users Committee, which was accompanied by training in water supply maintenance and management.
“One amazing woman said that she is so happy now that she doesn’t have to get up at 1am every day to walk for hours to get water, and she has also donated thousands of dollars from her sold crops to help rebuild a local monastery, paying it forward.”
Pre-construction training was held in June 2019 and a blessing was conducted before construction began. Over the next few months there were challenges with flooding and landslides in areas where the pipeline was laid, but despite all this water arrived in the villages on October 27, 2019.
Improved crop production resulted in more produce to take to market and increased income, which has enabled re-builds within the village and expansion into new food crops. More women have become empowered through their involvement in the Thamdanda Water Supply and Sanitation Users Committee, and young men are upskilled in pipeline maintenance.
Clare attended the COVID-delayed official handover ceremony at the village on April 2, 2023, along with representatives from the Rotary Club of Kavre-Banepa and media. Clare was told the project is known for its success all over Kavre (a district bigger than Northland in New Zealand) and the ceremony was broadcast on the radio. Some members of the Rotary Club of Westhaven even joined the official event celebrations via Zoom.
“One of my favourite parts [of the ceremony] was meeting the women,” said Clare. “One amazing woman said that she is so happy now that she doesn’t have to get up at 1am every day to walk for hours to get water, and she has also donated thousands of dollars from her sold crops to help rebuild a local monastery, paying it forward. Now people are coming back to live in the village and there is life and hope again.”
This was the first global grant supported with District Designated Funds (DDF) from all the districts in New Zealand, as well as District 3501 (South Korea), District 9820 (Australia), District 3292 (Nepal), and the Rotary Clubs of Westhaven, Kavre-Banepa, East Coast Bays, Henderson and North Harbour.
This project is a fantastic example of what a small club of 15 members with a contribution of around NZ$3,000 can achieve with the leverage power of The Rotary Foundation and the values and network of Rotary.