Ethiopia Water Project
Located 9,000 feet up in the Ethiopian Highlands and five and one-half hours west of Addis Ababa, Ajo is a cluster of villages so remote that even Google Maps has a hard time finding it. But remoteness doesn’t matter to the Rotary Club of Sacramento Foundation, which made a $39,549 grant in 2016-17 toward a massive regional water project in Ajo. A team of local Rotarians headed by Clayton Lee went there in early 2017-18 to help work on the project.
The overall cost for this project approaches $1M. Each dollar from our Foundation was matched with $2.50 through a combination of grants from the Rotary International Foundationand the Rotary District 5180 Foundation for a total of $138,422.
Along with other Rotary Clubs from around the world, these funds are going to make a huge difference in the lives of thousands of Ethiopians, bringing clean water to people who live and work in an agricultural area that is vital to their country’s economy.
Kenya
Homa Bay on the shores of Lake Victoria is contaminated by soap from bathers, lead, animal waste, sewage and pesticides. Our Foundation provided $1,000 to help fund construction of a water collection system by the Lake Region Community Development Initiative to catch and preserve some of the 25 inches of rainfall this town of 60,000 residents receives annually.
Rosarito Beach, Mexico
International soccer star Hector Herrera grew up playing on the beaches of Rosarito, Mexico. Now, drug trafficking is heavy in this tourist town and there’s not much structured activity for kids. Our Foundation stepped up with a $1,000 grant to help create an after school soccer program.
Jamaica
The Trees That Feed Foundation (TTFF) plants food-bearing trees such as breadfruit to feed people, create jobs, and benefit the environment in the Caribbean, Africa and the Middle East. Tree crops are nutritious and require less labor, agri-chemicals, fertilizers and space than field crops. Our Foundation awarded a $1,000 grant to TTFF to plant breadfruit trees in Jamaica.