Humanity grows from adversity, and the poverty which exists in Third World Countries is beyond the comprehension of we who have grown up un such a privileged environment and we have difficulty in coming to grips with the real needs.
In 1992 the Rotary Club of Oakleigh became aware of a school in Papua New Guinea, which was attended by 850 students, but had no supply of fresh running water, whatsoever. The students were required to walk 5 kms on a daily basis to collect water for cooking and all washing and ablutions were done in the nearby ocean.
I went as part of a team of 4 Rotarians to build a water reticulation system to collect, store and distribute fresh water for the school. On arrival we realised that there was ample collection facilities with iron roofs on major buildings, but no spoutings or drain pipes to collect the run off, or tanks to store it. The school was about to close because of failing facility, and there was no other local option for education.
We set about building a series of concrete tanks, but soon learned that the local youth were quite capable, with proper training, of building their own system under supervision.
Working on the principle “give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach him to fish he will eat forever” we set about training two teams of local National Youths to build the system.
By the time we left, three months later, the young men had completed 5 x 40,000 gallon concrete tanks, and the collection system which enabled the school to operate and grow.
I returned several years later to see the school thriving, and to learn that several of those young men had set up their own business building water systems, and were still doing so. I believe they are still doing so, quite successfully, today.
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