In the photo are (left to right): Silver Star Rotary President Janet Green and the club’s Chair of International Projects Sandra Ross, along with Sandra Peacock and Rotarian Bob Clarke.
Silver Star Rotary Club members have donated $4,000 to The Vijiji Foundation, to help build new washrooms for a school in Tanzania.
UBC Okanagan Associate Professor Sandra Peacock was recently presented with the cheque, just before heading back to Tanzania. The money will be used to complete new plumbing at Moivaro Primary School in Tanzania.
Peacock, who teaches anthropology, has taken students from UBC’s Go Global program to Tanzania for the last two years for courses in community-based research and “voluntourism.” Part of the coursework involves supporting the local peoples with projects in their villages. This year, the focus switched and she is helping with a fundraising campaign to build new washrooms at Moivaro Primary School. The washrooms had become dilapidated and their state of disrepair was threatening the school’s capability to remain open.
Moivaro Primary School is the only option for children in this area, Peacock explains, meaning if the school was condemned, the children simply could not get an education. Hearing about the state of the washrooms, the Silver Star Rotary Club contributed $4,000 to help rebuild the facility.
The fundraising goal to complete the project is $10,000 and Peacock says they are still about $2,000 short. The washrooms have been totally rebuilt, and while the donation from the Rotary club will help with the plumbing, there is more to be done before the facility can be completed.
Peacock is using the flexible funding option with online fundraiser Indiegogo, which means all funds go directly towards the cost of purchasing materials and paying local fundi (workmen) to construct new washrooms—complete with running water and flush toilets.
This article is a follow-up to the story that was previously published here: https://news.ok.ubc.ca/2014/07/30/ubc-prof-students-help-tanzanian-school-with-no-working-bathrooms/
To contribute to the project or find out more, visit: indiegogo.com/projects/wapi-choo
