Today’s speaker and DisasterAid Australia volunteer Fleur Maidment, from Nhill Rotary Club via Zoom, gave us a report on the Myanmar Clean Water Project.
She related how the local team did an extraordinary job to complete the project in the midst of a pandemic and despite escalating conflict in the area: there is widespread fighting in the mountains.
The collaboration between Hawthorn Rotary, the Rotary Club of Nhill and the Nhill Karen Community made this project possible. The Karen community are happy to see such practical and life-changing aid delivered to their home communities.
Fleur said they completed an installation of two SkyHydants in early December in Dae Bu Noh, Myanmar. The location is indeed in Myanmar, although access and supplies are all through Thailand because the area is so remote.
The site was chosen and partially funded (AUD $3,350) by the Karen community in Nhill and the Rotary Club of Nhill. Former refugees, now living in Nhill, have strong family connections to this area. I have covered the funding shortfall AUD $3,956 for SkyHydrants and shipping plus THB 49,955 (AUD $2,190) for tanks, pipes, wood, and internal transport.
The entire Thai-Myanmar border region is made up of impoverished villages, internally displaced persons camps and refugee camps. Our water testing programs have found that most refugee camps have chlorinated water supplies but villages and internally displaced persons camps in Myanmar use water from unsafe wells and streams, hence priority was given to Dae Bu Noh.
Fleur showed photos of how two SkyHydrant purification apparatus and water tanks were transported from Melbourne and Bangkok via 4-wheel drive vehicles and boats across the Myanmar border to the remote area, where 3000 people now have safe drinking water. This will significantly reduce the incidence of diarrhoea and worm infestation. She also showed us how the building of a school and medical centre was progressing.
The Safe Water for Every Child project in Northern Myanmar also assists with childhood vaccination and English tutoring.
Brian Ashworth, CEO of Disaster Aid Australia, then told us about DAA:
- Was founded as a project of the Rotary Club of Endeavour Hills.
- Has members/volunteers from across Australia;
- Is a member of Disaster Aid International, a partnership of Rotary Based organisations dedicated to providing Humanitarian Aid.
- Respond to disasters with the supply of humanitarian aid with ‘Smart Aid‘ to the affected communities and/or individuals until the needs are reasonably addressed.
- Responds to the disaster of contaminated water with ‘Safe Water for Every Child‘ by providing SkyHydrants to schools and communities;
- Train volunteers in administering humanitarian relief and aid;
- Provide education and training in aspects of disaster relief to individuals, community groups, businesses, schools and other organisations; and
- Works in partnership on humanitarian projects funded by other organisations, including Rotary clubs and Rotary districts.
Brian presented the Club with a Certificate of Appreciation, and Katrina Flinn thanked Fleur for her presentation on this wonderful project of the combined communities of Hawthorn, Nhill and Myanmar.
The "Safe Water for Every Child in Myanmar" project idea started with our road trip to Nhill, after John Millington from Rotary Nhill, addressed our Club and told us about the Karen people, and the story of the hardship they had faced and their successful settling into the Nhill community.
You will recall how Geoff Wright’s grand-daughter Gabby wondered “What exactly does Grandpa DO at Rotary?”
When she heard about a presentation at Hawthorn Rotary Club for Disaster Aid Australia and its “Safe Water for Every Child” program, she wanted to help.
Ten-year-old Gabby asked her teacher at Carey Grammar School if she could make a presentation on clean water at a Junior School Assembly, and try to raise some funds.
Gabby’s project raised $238 for Disaster Aid over a two week period, and her proud parents and grandparents boosted this to $400.
This led to Hawthoorn Rotary’s Sky-hydrant project, and with a District Grant from The Rotary Foundation we raised the $5,000 required to fund the purchase and installation of a Distaster Aid Sky-hydrant in the Karen refugee camps in Thailand (on the Myanmar border).