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INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS
Our Club takes action to create lasting change in international communities. We help bring clean water, sanitation, and hygiene to more people every day. We also educate and equip communities to stop diseases and expand access to health care.
We served these international communities
Construct dams to store water for tribal farmers, Maharashtra, India
We helped build nine quality check-dams in a tribal farming community in Bhiwandi District to store water for farming in the dry months of the year.
Farmers here rely heavily on farming, grazing animals and dry wood-picking for their livelihoods. While the region gets heavy rains in the monsoon season, these farmers faced severe water shortage in dry months as they did not have the means to store and harvest rainwater.
Construction of check dams have helped the farming community in Bhiwandi to harvest rainwater and be able to grow two to three crops per year and also increase dairy milk production adding to the farmers income. This is helping farmers earn an income and contribute to alleviating poverty, and potentially arrest the migration of some to cities in search of jobs. Further, the check dams are helping improve the underground water-table.
Properly maintained check-dams through year-on-year de-silting will help the tribal community to improve their living standard for years to come. Over 2500 community members are now benefitting from these nine dams, thanks also to the amazing work from RC Airoli Link Town, our partner club, who executed the project on the ground despite disruptions from the weather and eventually the pandemic.
Providing toilets, privacy and dignity to communities in Mewat, India
Poor sanitation and lack of toilets have characterised this rural region. The Rotary Club of Beecroft partnered with Rotary Club of South Delhi Metro to provide over 500 households with flushing toilets and hand washing sinks in the village of Nuh and Ghasera in Mewat, India. We estimate that up to 5,000 people a day will benefit from the availability of private toilet facilities and have significant multiplier effects with child and maternal health and wellbeing.
Providing toilets for rural communities is also in line with the Government of India’s Clean India campaign and has been recognised as a critical element of improving health and sanitation for families and providing dignity for women in particular.
Rotary Beecroft members Niranjan and Vinita had the privilege of joining Past District Governor Manjit Sawheny of Rotary Club of South Delhi Metro District 3011 on site visits to Mewat in 2017 and 2018.
“We inspected toilets that had been recently built to ensure that on-going maintenance and usage was as desired. Previously built toilets were in good condition and had all the signs of being maintained and being in use. The village panchayat (council) in Nuh had organised a ceremony attended by over a hundred people, at which the importance of on-going maintenance by the beneficiaries was reiterated.
We met with many of the residents of Ghasera and Nuh. We were greeted with enthusiasm and thanks for the work being done. It was obvious from the personal stories narrated by the residents that access to basic hygiene had made a big difference to the health and dignity of everyone, in particular the women of the village. We met a very elderly lady who was visual impaired. Before her house was provided with a toilet, she used to walk slowly for 30 minutes each way, while assisted by a family member, to get to a spot in the fields where she could have some measure of privacy. We were humbled to see how the funds being raised by the Rotary Clubs and districts that contributed to this project were leading to real outcomes for real people."
A big thanks to the Rotary Club Crowes Nest, Sydney, District 9940, New Zealand and District D7640 New Jersey, USA, who helped with this project and shared in our vision by providing significant contributions.
Save lives by providing dialysis machines and training to Lautoka, Fiji
We sought to avert a crisis that was occurring in Fiji by helping people who are suffering from renal failure and who could not afford the exorbitant costs of private Kidney Dialysis and therefore were being sent home to die. We set up dialysis machines and sent qualified nursing staff over from Australia to train the local staff in the use and maintenance of the equipment, supply consumables for every patient, and ultimately lift standards of care for renal patients to Australian Standards.
This is a wonderful initiative by two of our Beecroft Rotary members, Valerie and dialysis technician Illyas whose homeland is Fiji.
Two second-hand dialysis machines were obtained in Australia and reconditioned by Illyas. They were shipped to Lautoka Hospital with a volunteer Australian nurse who we accommodated in Fiji to train local nurses on how to use and look after the equipment. A rundown room was converted into a “Blue Room” to enable visitors to have somewhere to go to have dialysis while on holidays. This allows people who need dialysis to still be able to travel to Fiji while paying for their treatment. The payment received from the visitors also helps further support the Intensive Care and Hospital Dialysis Ward help more dialysis patients. We provided a water filtration system to the hospital, upgraded the ward to Australian Standards and provided training to more local staff. On completion of the project it was handed over to the hospital with Illyas providing 24/7 support from Australia.
Subsequently, with the help of Rotary Foundation, brand new Kidney Dialysis Machines were also supplied to Lautoka Hospital. We flew in and accommodated Australian nurses to train the local nurses on use and maintenance of these new machines to Australian Standards. Our nurse trainer Amutha went as well. The hospital staff are grateful for this training and said that they have waited for this for a long time. The hospital allocated seven nurses to be trained in dialysis.
Hundreds of lives have already been saved! This project has produced fabulous results. This is a wonderful achievement thanks to our Rotary members Illyas and Valerie who have demonstrated tremendous determination, perseverance and contributed a monumental amount of time to this project. In addition, a massive thank you to the wonderful Australian volunteer nurses that went to Fiji to train the local staff and furthermore, to the staff at Lautoka Hospital.
This is Mr Ali. He is a chronic patient from FIJI who was admitted to ICU where he was treated with the Kidney Dialysis machines