Patandi, Tanzania says:
“Thank you Rotary Mount Shasta!”

March 2009

Meet Alex. He attends the Patandi Primary School. For last couple of years, we have been watching Alex grow. He is an angel, who is not aware of the fact that he is different. As we walk together at his school, we dance. He is never without the smile you see in the picture above. He is exceptional. He is autistic. He refuses to see himself as challenged. He holds inside of him the epitome of African perseverance. Two years ago, we were introduced to Alex’s school. It struggles like every other school we have worked on. It lacks books, writing tools, a lunch program and most importantly clean water. What makes the school exceptional is that of the school’s 858 students, 158 of them suffer from blindness, hearing and speech impaired, autism, and other intellectual and emotional struggles. The picture below is the water quality test from the schools pipe. The pipe turns on for 30 minutes every 3 days. Students are regularly sick with water borne diseases.

Water sample from School

These 158 special students reside at the school. With the assistance of their teachers, they find ways to navigate through the harsh reality of African life. At the same time we were introduced to Patandi Primary School, we discovered that Rotary International could be of some assistance in funding our work. With the incredible perseverance of Mount Shasta’s Rotarian Linda Stremel and 2 years of paper work, this past March, we received a $25,000 grant to build 6 Rain Water Harvesting System for this special school and the surrounding community.

With this funding, w e employed 27 men from the village to build 240,000 liters of rain water harvesting storage. On this project, we experienced something for the very first time. People whose lives have been affected by Save the Rain’s work, are beginning to call the story their own. At the first team meeting, we were discussing the laborers daily pay. They requested more money. Before we could address this issue, one of the masons we had worked with before, asked to speak. He is a gentle quiet man named Samueli. He said: “Before Save the Rain came, my children were starving. Everyone in my family was sick from the water we drank. Today, because we have the Rain Catchment System, my children are now healthy and doing well in school. My life has changed and by working at this project, so will yours.” One by one, 4 other masons who had worked with us before began to tell the story of how their lives had improved. It was a moment that will be frozen in time forever.

This project gave us a chance to do something we have never done before. As the next phase of the work begins and we begin to implement the Women’s Water Initiative, we needed to train our teachers. So our 6 new women teacher came to Patandi for training every day! Using the nursery school, they built two 5000 liter rain catchment systems that mirror the systems they will be teaching the women to build at home. One day, one of the teachers, Lily, had an epiphany. She announced to the other women: “If we want better lives for our children, we must change. We must grow stronger and less willing to accept the unacceptable.” They were empowered in a way, we could never even imagine. The women completed their training in 2 weeks at Patandi. When each was asked if they would prefer to be paid or to receive a rain catchment system on their home, it was unanimous. They all chose to have clean water at home. They are now completing that task and beginning to teach the women enrolled in the program. Only 6 weeks after the project began, the tanks were completed and Patandi is already collecting clean water.

Thank you, Rotary Mount Shasta for making it possible for Save the Rain take the next step in our mission and for the children of Patandi to have a better life. We are so grateful.