The club won the annual Rotary Regional Award for the best club project in the water, hygiene and sanitation category for their Enviroloos at the Faith Burlington Crèche According to Rotarian, Lovelle Henderson, the Enviroloos were built just in time as one of the unsafe pit latrines previously used at the crèche recently collapsed on the premises.
Funded by a partnership between the Rotary clubs of Boca Raton and Boca Raton Sunrise in the US, Torquay in the UK, their Rotary districts, and the Rotary Foundation, the new toilets are not only beautiful to look at but offer clean and functional facilities which give dignity to the children and the adults using them. Michael Henderson, chairman of the Hoedspruit Rotary Foundation, worked on this project with the participating clubs.
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The project was interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, but the Rotarians pressed on relentlessly to get the project off the ground and approved. “It was a pleasure to work with Lastan Kapunza of Rainbow Maintenance who managed the building of the project efficiently and with an excellent aesthetic eye,” says Michael.
“The local induna was effusive in his praise of the project and complimented the Rotarians for being the first organisation in his area to finish a project on time, and on budget, and build something that would last,” he adds.
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To make the project more effective and sustainable, the club in partnership with Hlokomela, offers hygiene and sanitation lessons to the children, carers, parents, and members of the local community. This awareness and education campaign continues for a further five years, building a better understanding of the need for health, hygiene, and sanitation not only at the crèche but also in their homes.