2016-11-01 Making a Difference to thousands of Villagers in the Foothills of the Himalayas
"Making a Difference" to thousands of Villagers in the Foothills of the Himalayas
By Bob & Carrie Hemme - RC of Lake Havasu City
To our Fellow Rotarians:
Husband and Wife team Bob and Carrie Hemme are co-chairs of International and members of the Lake Havasu City Rotary Club. Together they have over 60 years of Rotary service/compassion.
Rotary International has opened our hearts and eyes to the needs both in our beautiful city of Lake Havasu, Arizona and worldwide. Wherever we travel, there has always been a common bond through this amazing organization.
We were first introduced to the International side of Rotary by Larry Potter (currently President of Downtown San Diego Breakfast Club) to join a "team" on a water well project in Mao, Manipur in the Northeastern area of India 13 years ago as a Lake Havasu City Club project. That was the beginning...
We have now returned from our third trip to the "Foothills of the Himalayas", the latest being the most challenging and rewarding.
Our Rotary Global Grant was honestly not an easy one to obtain; mainly due to our personal business schedules and also the fact we were faced with the new Global Grant procedures. We did not and never would give up! We sincerely appreciated the assistance of Rotarians such as George Wheeler, Jennifer Berg and many more whom gave us the "perseverance gene"!
Through the required Club training as International Chairs, we learned it was encouraged to include other clubs. Within months we had our five participating clubs from three Rotary Districts:
Lake Havasu City - District 5490
London Bridge Rotary Club - District 5490
Parker Poston Rotary Club - District 5490
Old Town Temecula Rotary Club - District
Mao Club of India - District
This allowed us to complete the "monies" end of the matching grant requirements.
The need was Water Management for existing low production surface wells. In the rainy season the water is plentiful, however that period is short-lived and with no means of retaining, storing or managing the water, the dry season brings a limited supply of muddy water for only those who get there first in the wee hours of the morning. This left serious side effects such as .....sickness and even death. With the aide of local resident, advisor and Doctor, now a Rotarian, Dr. Lorho Pfoze whom identified the Villages and sites with the most need in the greater Mao Manipur area.
The Lake Havasu City Rotary Club is proud to have participated with the Kohima, Nagaland Rotary Club in 2009 to charter the Mao Manipur Club. The Rotary Club of Mao Manipur was the first Rotary Club in the northern Manipur region and became our host Club on this project.
Our goal on this project was to make the lives of Villagers better; to lower the current stats of water borne disease along with easing the toil of women. Over the course of our travels, we experienced "first hand" the hardships of the woman who are tasked with hauling the water. Some traveling up and down mountainsides in the early hours of the morning to collect water for their families only to many times find...little or NONE before continuing further to other well sites.
The well management is a large concrete, brick and steel structure that accumulates all of the water the well produces through the night and makes it available for use in the morning. There is then a secondary overflow area that separates drinking water from the water used for laundry for sanitary purposes.
We would like to share a "Rotary Moment" we encountered during this project:
The local vendors whom were awarded the contracts to supply the materials understood our humanitarian effort and lowered the costs. That plus leftover materials from the other well sites allowed us to complete two additional wells systems.
The North West area of India is tribal and even today, there are outlying areas that have little to no contact between tribes. Well into the project we realized all the well sites were of the same tribe. Rotary is to cross all political and religious boundaries so we recommended to the Mao Club that the additional well systems be done at different tribal villages. To most, this is not a big deal but given the history and general mindset of the area, it was a monumental deal on this project. We asked the Mao Club to make the determination and to our pleasant surprise the entire Mao Club welcomed the idea with open arms. A true application of Rotary above self.
There is not only a separation between some of the tribes but some historical animosity as well. For two Nagas and two westerners to walk into a Kuki village and offer assistance for their water needs asking nothing in return but to maintain the facility is unheard of and has probably never happened before. This is what Rotary International stands for!
Even as we approached the Kuki Village unannounced, we were unsure as to what the response would be. After close to an hour of discussion through an interpreter with the Kuki Tribal officials about the ideals of Rotary, the project we proposed and their responsibilities, we sat there quietly and waited for their initial response. A tense moment for us.
They started with explaining their water need was very great and had made an application to central India Government for a very similar project that was turned down only the week prior to our visit that day.
They then went further to let us know how appreciative they were with our proposal and believed we had been sent by God (this area is 98% Christian).
There is nothing else to say, Rotary in Action!
The additional well sites were constructed in much needed villages outside of the Mao/Naga Area and today the relation between at least these Naga and Kuki tribes have permanently improved.
We will take this Rotary Moment to our "rocking chairs"! Rotary has indeed made their lives a better one to live. It was not all give, we have gained true Rotary family throughout many parts of India along with life-changing experiences we share with our fellow Rotarians and Family.
Our end result; we completed 13 fully sustainable well management sites effecting over 20,000 Villagers and have greatly expanded our Rotary family.
