The Carolina Forest Rotary Club began the meeting by honoring our Coastal Carolina graduate, Lucia Zats. We also had a quick visit with Kim Causey-Gomez, Past President calling in from the Virgin Islands. President Terry noted that the Club had received the District Award for “Public Image”, for the second year in a row!!
Our guest speaker was Rotarian Walter Hughes from Rocky Mount, Virginia. Walter joined Rotary in 2003 as a way to go to breakfast with his dad one day a week. Their club decided they wanted to build a “one and done” water well in Ghana. But then a club from Buffalo added $3,000, $6,000 came from a German club, and later money came from Rotary Foundation donations from South Carolina District 7770. “Suddenly I was in water, sanitation and education!”, Walter noted.
Walter related a few stories including asking the elderly chief of a village, what he wanted and the chief said, “I want my grandchildren to be educated”. A young girl also dreamed of becoming a doctor, so how was that possible without a proper school building and access to education. One of the former children in one village has graduated from college and is returning to be a teacher. Before Rotary became involved, it was unlikely that any children would even attend high school.
It started with wells, added sanitation, and finally schools. At Adadease Junction a drone photo shot showed a thatched roof, open-sided school next to a newly constructed concrete school wired with computers, solar panels, and water-less toilets, etc. Walter thanked the Club profusely for our ongoing contributions to the Rotary Foundation and for bettering lives in Ghana and South Sudan.
Thank you Walter for “Zooming” with the club!
By Scott Burleson
