Mexico Rotary presents donation for Tanzania project

Posted 11/13/24

Mexico Rotary presents donation for Tanzania project

The Rotary Club of Mexico recently presented a $2,000 donation to the Rotary Club of Fulton to support its projects in Tanzania. The Fulton …

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Mexico Rotary presents donation for Tanzania project

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The Rotary Club of Mexico recently presented a $2,000 donation to the Rotary Club of Fulton to support its projects in Tanzania. The Fulton Rotary Club has been working with the Maasai people of northern Tanzania for 15 years.

Molly McTaggart Hanley, president-elect of the Mexico Rotary Club, presented the check. The donation resulted from a presentation Bob Hansen and Amanda Gowin, co-chairs of international service for Fulton Rotary, made to the Mexico club earlier this year.

Mexico is known as the Firebrick Capital of the World so the Mexico Rotary Club's donation will be used to start a brick-making business in Tanzania. The bricks will be used to make stoves to use in mud huts.

"When Bob and Amanda presented to our club about their ongoing work in Tanzania, we knew we wanted to help," Hanley said. "A member noticed the brick-making machine on their list of needs. This was the perfect project for our community to contribute to!"

Hansen explained, "We have been educating people about the dangers of their tradition of open fires in their mud huts ... this has been their practice forever, but it leads to serious eye, heart and lung diseases. We urge them to replace these fires with stoves that are more efficient, safer and produce no smoke since they have a flue that takes the smoke directly out the hut."

Fulton Rotary works in collaboration with Humanity for Children, based in Columbia. The partnership has trained a group of 13 women to install these stoves and they have created their own small business. To date, 330 families have these safe stoves but Hansen said there are thousands of families that want them.

"We buy the metal fireboxes and flues from a company about three hours away and they come with their men to make bricks for the stoves," Hansen said. "By having our own brick-making machine, we can create a small brick-making business and cut the cost of each stove we install. The machines can make 500-1,000 bricks a day, but it is very hard work."

The brick-making machine purchased with the donation from the Rotary Club of Mexico will reduce the cost of each stove, allowing more stoves to be installed and keeping money in the village.

The Rotary Club of Fulton is looking for other organizations or individuals to partner with on projects ranging from $100 to $18,000. Projects include the areas of maternal and child health, agriculture, women's rights, education, sanitation and hygiene, and menstrual hygiene.

An immediate need is the creation of a preschool for children who currently walk up to seven miles to the closest school. Some have been killed by wildlife along the way. Fulton Rotary has committed $4,000 to this project and needs additional sponsors.

Anyone interested in helping should contact Bob Hansen at bobhansenwc@gmail.com.


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