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The International Project Committee report from Sondra Le Grand:
In 2016 I received a request from a Secondary School Headmaster from a small village in South India, TamilNadu, via a Rotarian friend. This school is 125 years old with about 1000 students in grades 8-12. He was asking for help to build both a boy’s and girl’s set of toilet blocks. There were no resources available and no government funds. Rotary Tinnevelli District 3212 wanted to partner with Valley View and Downtown Rotary Clubs to build those two toilet blocks. I went to Tinnevelli to do an assessment of the potential project in 2015. The conditions were abysmal. Through avid fundraising and District Rotary funds both on the part of Tinnevelli and La Crosse District 6250, we were able to raise $33,000 to build the blocks. Finally, after 2 years, that project was competed along with a Menstrual Hygiene training for the girls.
I returned to Tinnevelli in January 2018 to celebrate the completion of the project and to participate in a special holiday called Pongal. Two Public Health graduate students from UW-La Crosse accompanied me to see the students and the completed project. After seeing their new toilets, the students went home and convinced their parents to have an individual toilet in their house. So now, the Indian Rotary Club and La Crosse Rotaries have partnered again for the next phase of the project. Thirty individual toilets for villagers will be completed in 2019.
Our Indian partners and generous Rotarians of La Crosse made this desperately needed project possible. A special thank you to our Indian Rotarians who worked through the grant process, procured architects, construction companies, La Crosse Rotary members and private donations.
According to the teachers, the students would rather spend their time in the restrooms instead of class because they are so beautiful! The project was a success.
Our Indian partners and generous Rotarians of La Crosse made this desperately needed project possible. A special thank you to our Indian Rotarians who worked through the grant process, procured architects, construction companies, La Crosse Rotary members and private donations.
According to the teachers, the students would rather spend their time in the restrooms instead of class because they are so beautiful! The project was a success.
