Sept 17, 2013: It was a field trip meeting for Charleston Rotarians this week as we met with leadership and staff of Water Mission International in North Charleston. Michael Saboe got the full attention of a packed house with the following facts: Almost 1 Billion people drink microbiologi-cally unsafe water everyday. 2.5 Billion people-37% of the world’s population- live without adequate sanitation. Every 21 seconds a child dies from water related disease. Lack of safe water and sanitation kills 5,500 people everyday.
These sobering statistics kicked off a very informative overview and presentation of the work and amazing success of Water Mission International (WMI), a nonprofit, Christian engineering organization based in Charleston. WMI grew from the heartfelt concern of Rotarians George and Molly Greene for those whose lives and homes were devastated by Hurricane Mitch which hit Honduras in 1998. Owning General Engineering Laboratories gave the Greenes the ability to design, construct and deliver six drinking water treatment units, each capable of producing safe drinking water at the rate of 10 gallons per minute. Within three weeks of the hurricane, sixteen volunteers from the company were in remote locations of Honduras setting up these water treatment units. This initial effort was called “Project Living Water” and the water treatment unit became known as the Living Water Treatment System. After selling their company, George and Molly founded Water Missions International in 2001 and it has now improved and saved lives in 49 countries.
Seth Womble, engineer and WMIs Program Director, vividly described the water sanitation crisis in Peru and the irony that villagers often have individual cell phones available but not clean, safe water. By installing WMI water treatment equipment, villagers can reduce time searching for water sources and concentrate on farming, raising livestock and improving their living situations
Jay Cook, Water Mission International’s Director of Operations, continued to educate us on how a lack of clean, safe water impacts the health and economic viability of communities. According to his data, one-half of all hospital beds globally are occupied by patients with diseases caused by unhealthy water. Jay is not a man looking at the half-empty glass of clean water! His enthusiasm is deep, genuine and totally contagious. Volunteers from all over the world have come together in remote villages, Jay says, and “saved those babies.” Jay’s photographs of smiling children made the point better than any facts and we can take special pride in seeing a plaque in one village with Charleston Rotary’s name as a sponsor for their new clean water and sanitation equipment.
President John noted that our Rotary club gives WMI a $5,000 check each year but encouraged all Rotarians to get personally involved, volunteering at WMI or supporting it financially on an individual basis. To further demonstrate Charleston Rotary’s commitment to WMI, a check for $2,500 was presented along with special acknowledgement and gratitude to George and Mollie Greene.
Rotarians toured the Water Mission International (WMI) facilities and saw first hand the state of the
state of the art engineering and production techniques and equipment that WMI leaders say have brought relief and hope to more than 2.4 million people across the globe.
Submitted by Cheryl Kaynard. Keyway Committee .