Welcome to Rotary District 6580!

District Governor Sue Wright

"March is Water and Sanitation Month"

"Clean water, sanitation, and hygiene education are basic necessities for a healthy environment and a productive life. Rotary International has partnered with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to support lasting, positive change in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). This unique public-private partnership leverages the business skills and community leadership of our volunteers with USAID's technical expertise and government relationships. Rotary volunteers work with USAID and governmental agencies in Ghana, Madagascar, and Uganda as monitors, inspectors, facilitators, mentors, advocates, and instructors in communities, schools, and clinics." (rotary.org)

I travel outside the United States quite often because I enjoy seeing how others live, meeting new people, and expanding my perspective of other countries and their cultures.

In many countries, you cannot brush your teeth with the water coming out of the faucet. I have often found myself (out of habit) brushing my teeth with faucet water. This leads to a slight panic for me, so I immediately grab a bottle of water that is supposedly safe to drink and I start rinsing and scrubbing my mouth again.

We have all heard about the drought in California, but is California the only state running out of water?

When I lived in San Diego, I learned to wash my car with one bucket of water. If you were caught using your garden hose to wash your car, you were fined. I can still wash my car with one bucket of water but there are many car washes around town, so I give myself the luxury of going to a car wash.

"It has been four years since the story of lead-contaminated water in Flint, Michigan, first riveted the country. Yet in recent weeks, news about lead-contaminated water and sluggish government responses are surfacing across the nation from cities including Newark, Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, and Milwaukee." (CBS News)

I was in Flint helping an elderly family friend move to Indiana during this crisis. I was taking showers and not really thinking about the water even though I heard rumors that people were losing their hair and using boiled water to bathe. I came home and suffered two back-to-back skin infections on different parts of my body. I had four different doctors including my eye doctor running tests on me, but they could find nothing internally causing the problems. Final diagnosis: weakened immune system.

Once I return home from my travels, I still find myself occasionally wasting water and taking for granted that the water coming out of my faucet is safe and will be there forever.

We cannot survive without clean water. Let us be thankful that we do not face the daily challenge of obtaining clean water just to stay alive.

When a need arises right here at home or anywhere in the world for clean water, let us be ready to serve.

~Sue