Rotary clubs in Hyndburn have helped bring water to a village in Nepal after a century of villagers struggling up and downhill to get it.
The project is one of the largest humanitarian efforts ever carried out in the Rotary movement.
Before the initiative, people in the village of Maikot, near Gorkha, were having to collect their water from a well at the bottom of a mountain, then endure a back-breaking 1km trek uphill back to the village.
George Blenkinship, International Chairman of the Rotary Club of Church and Oswaldtwistle, funded his own trip to Nepal to meet Rotarians from the Gorkha Rotary Club and discuss the installation of a pump. And he received a hero’s welcome.
Michael Nelson, Rotarian at the Church and Oswaldtwistle club, said: “The whole village turned out to welcome George as they realised they might be fortunate enough to see water brought straight into the village instead of the long trek to collect it, which they’ve done for 100 years. George was hailed as a real hero!”
The President of Gorkha Rotary Club then discussed the pump idea with the Nepal Government Water Supply Department.
Plans also included the building of toilets at Maikot School, where the Gorkha Rotary’s President had been a pupil. The whole project was to cost £45,000, which at the time seemed an impossible sum. But after meetings between local Hyndburn Rotary Clubs, £20,000 was raised from a series of fundraising events, Rotary International then making up the balance of the total. The project began in November last year but was put on hold after the devastating earthquake in April.
After the earthquake, George rallied support from local Rotary clubs who raised more than £12,000 to provide shelter for the villagers.
So the children could return to school, a total of 36 temporary classrooms for schools in the surrounding villages were also built.
In August this year, work to complete the water system began and fresh water is now available in the village, with the building of the toilets underway.
President Ian McTurk, from the Rotary club of Church and Oswaldtwistle, said: “I must give George the highest praise for all the hard work he put into this valuable water system. It has been a resounding success and is a fine example of Rotary clubs working together.”
