The Irving Sunrise Rotary Club and the Dallas Rotary Club agreed to partner on funding 8 water wells and a latrine in various communities in the Accra area of Ghana Africa.  
Their international partner is the West Accra Rotary Club of Ghana.  These clubs are providing $23,100 toward providing clean water and sanitation to the communities that so desperately need it.  The Rotary Districts in Texas and in Ghana will contribute another $28,000 and Rotary International will contribute almost $34,000.  Altogether, the clean water and sanitation fund will total over $85,000.  

Unclean water is responsible for many diseases in Africa, including Guinea worm disease, which is debilitating and affects populations without access to clean water.  One person in six lives without regular access to safe drinking water.  Over twice that number - 2.4 billion people - lack access to adequate sanitation.  Water-related diseases kill a child every eight seconds and are responsible for 80% of all illnesses and deaths in the developing world - a situation made all the more tragic by our long-standing knowledge that these diseases are easily preventable.

Through water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programs, Rotary’s people of action mobilize resources, form partnerships, and invest in infrastructure and training that yield long-term change.  When people have access to clean water and sanitation, waterborne diseases decrease, children stay healthier and attend school more regularly, especially girls, who are often tasked with walking to the nearest water source to fetch water for the family.  When water wells providing clean water are in the local communities near schools, children can more easily attend classes rather than carrying water from distant sources.

The Dallas Rotary Club has been funding clean water and sanitation projects for many years and concentrating its efforts in Ghana for more than a decade.  Peter Fitzwilliams, who was born in Ghana, is a Dallas Rotarian and was an executive with the Dallas Water and Sanitation Department until his recent retirement.  Peter encouraged the Dallas Club to focus on his home country of Ghana by agreeing to travel there frequently to meet with influential people in the West Acca Rotary Club.  Those local Rotarians select the various locations and conduct the training of the local community volunteers, who are educated on the importance of clean water and sanitation and on how to maintain the pumps and distribution systems once installed.  Another Dallas Club member hailing from Ghana, Elizabeth Kwarteng is a dentist.  She travels to Ghana to conduct dental clinics near the newly installed water wells. These clinics further instill the importance of clean water and good hygiene within the local population.

These new water wells and latrine will serve several thousand people.  We can all be proud of our local Dallas Rotary Club and Irving Sunrise Rotary Club members for their role in saving lives and improving the health of many in Ghana.