• Grant to Sierra Vista Rotary Club provides clean water for 40,000 nomads
LOS ANGELES, CA, Oct. 2, 2008 -- The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) has made a $10,000 grant to the Sierra Vista Rotary Club Charities in Arizona to aid 40,000 Nigeriens by providing sustainable and permanent sources of clean water at the Tamesna Center for Nomadic Life in the desert Region near Agadez, Niger, West Africa. These grant funds will be matched by other Rotary Clubs and The Rotary Foundation, potentially bringing together over $61,000 for this project.
"Niger is one of the poorest countries of the world. Many live on less than US$1 per day," says Ernie Montagne, Rotary Foundation Director of the Sierra Vista Rotary Club Charities Inc. "The number one need in this area is access to clean water. People often walk miles each day to draw water from unclean open sources where pigs and cattle drink."
Contaminated water, laced with E. coli, Guinea worm, Vibrio cholerae, giardia lamblia and poliovirus, sickens and debilitates millions each year. One in five children in Niger die before the age of 5.
Headed by Sidi Manane, President of The Rotary Club of Agadez, the project will provide a permanent source of clean water for nomadic tribes, helping to reduce disease, improve the health of people and livestock, increase educational opportunity, and allow villagers to grow their own produce. The wells will be hand dug by local residents, and a local construction company will complete the process. TPRF's grant will help purchase an electric pump, solar panels, and a water tower.
This is the third grant from TPRF to aid people in Niger. In April 2008, the Foundation gave $10,000 to Koulawa NGO to provide food aid for disabled schoolchildren and adults. In September 2005, TPRF provided a grant of $30,000 to Friends of the World Food Program in support of the UN World Food Program's emergency relief efforts.
Sierra Vista Rotary Club Charities is part of Rotary International, which is an organization of service clubs around the world, made up of business and professional leaders whose purpose is to provide humanitarian service, encourage high vocational standards, and help build peace and goodwill in the world. There are over 1.2 million members worldwide in 33,000 clubs.
The Prem Rawat Foundation was created in 2001 by Prem Rawat, known also as Maharaji, and has a dual mission of bringing his message of peace to people around the world and providing essential humanitarian aid to those in need. TPRF partners with other humanitarian organizations to bring food, water and rapid disaster relief where it is most needed.
>> Learn more about TPRF's humanitarian initiatives
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