Twenty clubs from the New Zealand-based districts pledged the cost of providing a toilet each to villages in the interior of Vanua Levu where children, women and men currently struggle with life without this basic means of sanitation. The presentation at the South Pacific Presidents Elect Training Seminar on Sunday 1 March by President-elect John Prasad so clearly showed the need for these toilets that within minutes twenty clubs from throughout the six districts represented had pledged to support the project by Labasa Rotary to solve this pressing need. Rotary Foundation Trustee Jennifer Jones (pictured) and her husband also pledged one toilet such are the benefits that come from improving sanitation for those poor of Fiji.
Will your club be willing to email John Prasad (pictured) on skulleredge@gmail.com and also pledge the $500 cost of one toilet? Twenty-one toilets are not enough for the several villages needing these. Let's make sure no-one is with out sanitation.
Just as access to food and water is important for health, it is equally important for a human being to have access to a clean toilet to bring health, well-being and to establish human dignity. Without adequate sanitation is hard for anyone to lift themselves out of poverty so the gift of a toilet has far-reaching benefits for the individual and the entire community.
As a simple example of the effects of the lack of sanitation; diarrhoea and other sanitation related diseases can prevent children from being able to absorb the nutrients in their food, leading to under-nutrition. This results in stunted growth, meaning their physical and cognitive development is reduced, often resulting in poor educational outcomes. All this without considering the issues such as a lack of dignity a lack of toilets causes. The repercussions can be felt beyond the individual child and can impact entire communities and generations in terms of economic and social development. Stunted bodies, stunted brains, and stunted lives.
Thank you Rotary for providing a solution.
This is also a story of the 'connectedness' of Rotary. At a SPPETS tea break John was telling Tony Heyward about what Labasa Rotary was trying to do in Fiji because of the huge impact providing toilets had for those without yet they were limited by the maximum $2,000 they were able to raise annually from their community. Tony then asked John to recount his story to Jennifer who then gave up some of her speaking slot so he could tell the story to the hundreds of Rotarians at SPPETS. The response was instant from twenty clubs ... a HUGE start to helping Labasa Rotary help so many with a need.