Rotarians Tom and Primrose Drake, Rotary Club of Ewell, District 1140, have been royally recognised for their sterling efforts to back WaterAid, an official Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland, RIBI, supported project.
Over the past 15 years, the couple has raised an incredible £200K by reaching out to Rotary clubs, schools and other community organisations to talk about WaterAid. In addition, they have visited Africa and Asia to help WaterAid with sanitation projects. Their hard work means that over 14,000 people in remote and very basic overseas villages have benefited from clean running water, sanitation facilities and a bright future as the risk of disease is significantly reduced. They have now been honoured by HRH Prince of Wales with the Award for Outstanding Voluntary Contribution.
Tom says: “We enjoy speaking about WaterAid so much. It is important to see these places in order to full understand the problem. It is not until you go there and speak to the people that you can understand the extent of the problems faced.”
“We visited a village in Mali, West Africa, which was so remote you could not get there by any other means other than a Landrover. When we arrived, the greeting from the villagers was so warm and welcoming. There was no water, no electricity, no sanitation or even a school, it was so blighted. There was just one latrine for 400 people and the journey to the nearest well was very far. The well itself was unsafe as the water was so contaminated."
WaterAid is putting in a sanitation system which will mean an end to long walks to dangerous water supplies and an improvement in health.
To date, clubs in RIBI, have contributed nearly £3 million to WaterAid, helping over 200,000 people with safe water and sanitation. For more information about WaterAid or the range of officially supported RIBI projects, please visit our partner pages or contact your local Rotary club.
