Rotary Club provides clean water to Afghan refugees

By KATHERINE HEAD

Bigfork Eagle

Thanks in part to the Rotary Club of Bigfork; a village in Afghanistan has clean water.

District Rotary Foundation Committee Chairman Don Gatzke helped initiate the project. Gatzke visited Pakistan in 2003 and observed the absence of drinkable water.

"While over there we found a village that had no drinkable water. We worked with them to get one well started through a matching grant. It's a major well-it serves an entire region," he explained.

That interest in clean water lead Rotarians to the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan. In the refugee camps on the Afghanistan side, it was "a terrible situation," Gatzke said. "People were drinking out of gutters and some are the same gutters that sewage goes into," Gatzke said. "Water was the same color as coffee with a lot of cream in it. They could try to boil it, but there is no fuel for the fires. In trying to filter the water, the filters were constantly clogging up because the water is so dirty."

Water-born diseases cause the highest number of deaths in infants and the elderly in these camps and villages. To help in the fight against preventable mortality, the Rotary agreed to fund six of the 12 desperately needed wells in the refugee camps.

"We went with six wells to see if the project was feasible. We've just completed the sixth," Gatzke noted. "The second phase is about to start."

The Rotary Club of Bigfork contributed $1,221 toward the project. Rotary president Andrea Goff said the contribution was a step toward bridge building.

"There's something about it that makes it feel like we've made a new friend-and they certainly have one here," she said of the refugees.

Gatzke said that the wells provide a tremendous resource for the people living in the camps and villages.

"Water there is just priceless," he said. "This is an inexpensive way to serve a lot of people-$2 a person will provide pure drinking water for life. A well there probably serves 5,000 people."

According to Gatzke, Rotary International and its charitable arm, the Rotary Foundation, have put an emphasis on clean water. Their previous focus of polio eradication is nearly realized. Half a billion dollars was given to fund the polio project. Funding clean water projects will come from clubs like Bigfork, and from match grants through the Rotary Foundation.

"We as individuals in the Flathead Valley are so blessed with anything our hearts can imagine. To reach out and give another part of the world water to serve a whole village is awesome," said Bigfork resident and Rotary Assistant District Governor Cristie Akers. "It's a wonderful thing for our community to look outside our own to help."

Gatzke said project like this also brings awareness to the way we treat water.

"We're so spoiled with our water here," he said. "They don't use water like we do. Washing their hands is considered a waste of water."

Gatzke also said that clubs like Bigfork make a dramatic difference in their own community as well as in those across the globe.

"The Bigfork Club does a tremendous amount locally. Their international projects are a bonus," he noted. "But when you think about how many people they touch it's just amazing."

Akers said the club is currently working to provide a brick-making machine to a village in Africa. "In one day it can make enough bricks to build a school," she said. "It can truly be used to build a community."

Akers also applauded the Bigfork Club for their generosity and hard work. The 38 members all contribute to the Rotary Foundation every year, she said.

For more information on the Rotary Club of Bigfork,, call Andrea Goff at 837-5888.