|
Your
link to OnLine news from your dynamic |
|||||
|
|||||
|
The article at right
appeared in the "Northshore Citizen" column published in the
Reporter newspaper, written by former newspaper publisher
|
Reprinted from Bothell-Kenmore Reporter, June 11, 2008 Posted June 15, 2008
UW Bothell supporters of the international Village Volunteers efforts to
provide means for safe, filtered water in the villages of Kenya met
recently to assess their fund-raising plans for the balance of 2008.
The student and community interest in the project stemmed from a
class led by professor Martha Groom in which students explored
humanitarian needs in Kenya. This led to the connection with Shana
Greene, executive director of the Seattle-based Village Volunteers
organization, and her suggestion that the UW Bothell Village Volunteers
could support the development of a facility in Kiminini which would
produce ceramic water filtration units for families in surrounding rural
villages. The fairly simple unit has proven to eliminate 98 per cent of
life threatening bacteria from questionable water sources the villagers
rely upon for cooking and drinking.
About a year ago, Greene told the students it would take $20,000
or more to provide a shelter, build a firing kiln for the filter
manufacturing and engage the services of Potters for Peace to train
women in Kiminini in the production, assembly and use of the filters.
The filters cost $10 to produce and have a filtering life of
about a year. The fluctuating cost of crude oil and petroleum products
will have some impact on the plastic bucket component of the filter
system. She
reported that the project is now sufficiently funded to secure and
install the kiln, thanks to a myriad of fund-raising efforts since last
summer. A retired electrical engineer, Bill Evans of Sammamish, has
volunteered to go to Kiminini this month to move the project past the
planning stages. Money still needs to be raised for the shelter and
training – another $12,000 to $13,000. Woodinville
Rotary is committed to provide at least half of that amount. UWB
members are making plans to raise the balance through events and
presentations to other possible donors. There will continue to be the
need to raise money to produce the filters as the self-sustaining
program expands beyond Kiminini, providing a boost to both the rural
economy and the health of its villagers. Women
of the villages will be employed to produce and sell the units to
provide women of that region the opportunity to earn a living in a
male-dominated African economic culture. Greene
notes that the safe water project is just one of several in the Kiminini
area that involves quality of life programs. Aware that young women in
Kenya have virtually no opportunity for a college-level education,
Village Volunteers is working with health and school organizations in
Kitale to provide college scholarships for potential nurses and teachers
to be found among highly qualified young women. For $1,500, a
scholarship will support living and tuition costs for a year of college. She
told how the Sister Freda Foundation operates a hospital in the slums of
Kitale that provides health care, as well as a childcare shelter. Her
Foundation is establishing a nursing school.
The health clinic in Kiminini would be an ideal spot for a
college-trained nurse to practice and help expand such sorely needed
services. The villages also are in great need of women trained to teach
in their schools. Greene
advised that political tension and violence in the larger cities in
Kenya, recently a serious international concern, appear under control
and that life in the rural villages has become reasonably calm. The
upheaval has created more orphans for the Kiminini villagers to accept
and care for. One schoolroom had to be converted into a dormitory for 70
children. Greene
and her organization work closely with trustworthy Kenyan activists such
as Joshua Machinga, program director for Common Ground, a
community-based organization dedicated to working with Kenyans to
improve their lives through education. The two organizations have the
mutual goal of working for sustainable self-sufficiency among the
villagers they serve in western Kenya. Village
Volunteers attracts “volunteers” from all over the globe who pay
their own way to spots similar to Kiminini. They spend two to four weeks
living and working with villagers on projects ranging from organic
farming practices to public health education, working in clinics and
assisting with a variety of housing projects. A couple of those UW
Bothell activists are intrigued with the idea of becoming volunteers,
eyeing warily the hefty $3,500 cost as a potential hurdle to cross. Not
all volunteer work requires traveling to Kenya. Volunteers from UWB have
participated in research work in Seattle exploring better ways for
sustainable life practices that can be implemented in Kenya, showing
that their volunteer efforts are needed and welcomed both in the Seattle
offices as well as in Kenya.
In the meantime, says student leader Nora Laughlin, she and her
fellow supporters will recruit others on campus to join them in laying
the groundwork for a continuity of support for Village Volunteers at UWB
as well as in the greater Bothell community.
Look into www.villagevolunteers.org.
|
||||
