ROTARIANS in Barnard Castle are hoping to create a fundraising record if a project to bring fresh water to 8,000 people in rural Kenya proves successful.
The ambitious plan aims to raise almost £200,000 to capture rainfall from the rooftops of four schools and store it in massive 350,000 litre tanks.
Colin Dunnigan, of Barnard Castle Rotary Club, said the plan is to raise about £60,000 as a financial base from which a bid will be made for a Rotary Global Grant from the Rotary Foundation.
He said: “It is ambitious and we are hoping we can get it. It is absolutely the biggest project that Barnard Castle Rotary has undertaken.”
The project is being spearheaded by biology teacher Sam Forsyth, who is a member of a rotary satellite club that is run online, and builds on his previous work to build two new classrooms and refurbished four others in the Kipsaina area of Kenya.
He said: “A lot of the schools would not have been out of place in Dickensian England with up to four pupils at a desk.”
As part of the project large free-standing roofs are to be built at four schools to capture extra rainfall.
Mr Forsyth said: “The huge benefit for the schools is this provides classroom space as well as reducing the risk of transmission of the coronavirus.”
Currently, people in Kipsaina collect water from natural springs, but this is unreliable in times of drought and can become contaminated during floods. Providing water to the four communities in the area will also keep safe a threatened wetland ecosystem known as Saiwa Swamp, which is home to various endangered creatures including the crowned crane, DeBrazza monkey and sitatunga, an aquatic antelope.
Mr Forsyth said: “Not only is this wetland an oasis of biodiversity, but it acts as a natural sponge, providing drought and flash flood protection for tens of thousands of people living downstream.”
Mr Dunnigan said the project is being run jointly with the Rotary Club of Kitale, in Kenya, and approaches have been made to 54 Rotary Clubs in the North East asking them to get involved.
He said: “There has been a lot of generosity from a wide range of people.”
To support the project visit uk.gofundme.com/f/8vwjn-a-cause-i-care-about-needs-help.
