• Global Team for Local Initiatives and Nor'Wester Rotary Club of Port Angeles awarded $70,000 grant to help ancient tribe adapt to climate change
BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, WA and PORT ANGELES, WA, Oct. 26, 2010 -- Nonprofit Global Team for Local Initiatives (GTLI) and Nor'Wester Rotary Club of Port Angeles have been awarded a Global Grant from The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International to bring clean water and disease prevention training to the Hamar tribe in remote, southwest Ethiopia. The Global Grant will be supplemented by donations from local Rotary District 5020 and eight other Rotary clubs, for a total of nearly $70,000. The project will construct two wells and teach sanitation and hygiene to 1,500 people who currently have no access to clean water.
"We are excited to be working with GTLI on this," said Grant Meiner, lead partner for the project at Nor'Wester Rotary. "Prolonged drought has made the Hamars' lives precarious. Their animals are dying. Women walk long distances every day to fetch polluted water. They suffer from diseases that could be eradicated through understanding and implementation of sanitary practices. This project will provide sustainable clean water and will empower them to protect their health."
The Hamar are pastoralists who have little contact with the modern world and live much as they have for centuries. They are aware that the traditional practices of their ancestors no longer keep them alive and are eager to learn new practices that will keep them safe. GTLI has been working with the Hamar since 2008, in close partnership with tribal elders, to help them adapt to their changing world.
"Our partnership with Rotary is providing community-based training for the Hamar that enables them to identify and solve their own problems," says Lori Pappas, GTLI Country Director. "Together, we are helping the Hamar regain their self-reliance."
This is Nor'Wester Rotary's second project with GTLI. The two organizations are doing a similar program in two other Hamar communities.
Rotary International is a volunteer organization of business, professional and community leaders who provide humanitarian service and build goodwill and peace in the world.
Global Team for Local Initiatives: www.gtli.us
Nor'Wester Rotary Club of Port Angeles, WA: www.clubrunner.ca/CPrg/home/homeS.asp?cid=719
Rotary International: www.rotary.org.
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