On February 26, President Elect Victor Lau of Rotary Club of The HUB Hong Kong visited our Club to explain to us in detail the upcoming joint-club project. The project leverages the knowledge-base and resource network of Rotary WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) program to deliver clean water to approximately 50 families in rural Thailand. President Elect Victor Lau explained that, before committing on the project, of which our Club is a supporting partner, he and several of his Club members traveled to rural Thailand to assess the needs and feasibility of delivering and installing WASH equipment there.
On February 22, our service partner Amity Foundation hosted a townhall featuring representatives from two NGOs in Nepal and Myanmar, school students in Hong Kong, and donors. Our Club also joined to learn about water resource scarcity in poor rural areas in Nepal and Myanmar. President Mark, President Elect Sam, Rotarians Jason and Eliza joined as a group. Past President Lily joined remotely. Rotaractors Gabin Kee and Anuj Bhatia also joined remotely as guests. The townhall featured sharing by villagers who benefited from water infrastructure and systems funded partially by our Club’s fundraising efforts last year during Walk for Living Water 2020. In many parts of the world, villagers still have to walk for hours to reach water resources and bring back water for their daily use. A lot of these resources, heavily polluted and infested with bacteria, are marginally suitable for bathing, let alone drinking and cooking. Our Club will continue to work with Amity to raise awareness of global potable water shortage, inform our youth about the importance of water preservation, and support projects that bring clean water to communities around the world.