Work has begun on a South Haven Rotary project in Kenya. The Rotary’s Art Ayers tells WSJM News they’re constructing a 600,000 liter concrete water storage cistern for the Ngoswani Maternal and Child Hospital. The project was inspired by Rotarian Dr. Marty Graber, who worked for decades to help people in Africa.
“Since water is a dire need and they only have very limited access to water, and here you have a hospital needing water for the obvious, so his last project he wanted taken care of was this rainwater harvesting project,” Ayers said.
The roof of the hospital will be used to catch water, which will go into an underground tank with filters. Ayers says it took the Rotary about three years to bring the project together. Construction started this week.
“This is something that’s been going on for almost three years, if not more, and it’s truly been a labor of love. There’s been a lot of labor involved, but for all the right reasons.”
Ayers says the Rotary raised about $75,000 for the effort. To complete the project, the South Haven Rotary teamed up with the Milimani Rotary Club of Nairobi. Ayers the construction is expected to take about three months.
