SPEAKER: Fred Abrams: project manager for the international projects undertaken by the Dayton Rotary Club. He spoke about the water and sanitation projects the club has undertaken in Kenya, Guatemala and Nigeria.
Ron said Fred is president of The Dayton Group, Inc., a project management consulting and training company. He has been a career project manager since 1974. He served 27 years in the U.S. Air Force, one third as a fighter pilot with 148 combat missions in Vietnam, one third as a research/development project manager, and one third as a logistician and logistics project manager.
He has worked in industry helping start multiple companies, primarily based on his ten-plus patents in thermoplastic composite compounding and product manufacture.
He was widowed in 2004 and met his current wife in Hospice Grief Support. Together they have written the only book on Amazon authored by an ordinary widow/widower couple on dealing with losing one's spouse. It is titled: Thanks For the Dance.
Fred has a bachelors degree in Theoretical Math from Washington University in St. Louis, and a masters degree in systems management from AFIT at WPAFB. He is a native of St. Louis, brought to Dayton by the Air Force. He lives south of Springboro and has been a member of the Dayton Rotary since 1993.
Fred said the Dayton Club has obtained Rotary Global Grants for their sanitary and clean water projects in Kenya, Guatemala, and Nigeria. Local Rotary clubs, including our Centerville Club and the Centerville Interact Club have donated funds for several of the projects, which he thanked us for.
Fred pointed out the importance of trying to help the large part of the world that is suffering and dying from the lack of clean water and sanitation. He noted that there is a World Water Summit held each year, a World Water Day, and WASRAG, the Water and Sanitation Rotary Advisory Group, all of which seek to educate and find solutions and ways to help countries that still have contaminated water and/or no toilets for a large number of their population.
He said 1.8 million children under the age of five die each year from unsafe water and/or sanitation.
He said 90 percent of the people in Niger live without a toilet.
In Kenya they had to dig 450 feet down to get water in some places, he said. They get water from sourcing wells, boreholes, rain water, creeks and ponds.
It's difficult to get the people to talk about contamination, he said. Talking about the fecal matter to oral route is hard, but efforts are being made to promote discussions. One such effort is World Toilet Day and another is the World Water Summit. There are also community seminars held to discuss the issues, he said.The UN is also involved in trying to promote discussions and to have schools promote gender equality.
Girls need proper areas to take care of menstrual hygiene and places for proper changing and washing.and in many places the girls and women do the water carrying and often have no opportunity for going to school.
In the slum areas safe water is needed for cooking and drinking, growing food, etc. Diarrhea and upper respiratory problems are caused by contaminated water usage, he said.
Rotary requires that projects be made sustainable, so the people that are helped can maintain whatever is built and continue to have safe water and sanitation over the years. Where there is no electricity, they use solar cells and wind turbines to keep equipment running. Bio-gas plants and gas storage are also used.
He said the $368,000 Kenya project had $268,000 in District 6670 Rotary funds from 21 of 50 chapters, Our club contributed $250 to that project and $500 to the $14,000 Nigeria water project, with the Centerville Interact Club contributing $1,500 to the Guatemalan water project. The Ovungwu Rotary Club in Nigeria is helping with the Nigerian project, and their club president has visited the Dayton Rotary Club. They have a borehole project and solar water project for the secondary school there, Fred said..
Added note:
According to the Dayton Rotary Club's web site: the Kenya project is a joint effort of the Rotary Club of Dayton and the Rotary Club of Muthaiga (Nairobi) Kenya wiith the primary goal of rescuing AIDS orphans from the worst and most dangerous slum in Africa - Mathare Valley (Nairobi, Kenya). This is a Rotary International (RI) and Rotary District 6670 matching grant project. Phase One is completed and we are well into execution of Phase 2A and have started efforts under Phase 2B. Several of the elements, such as the Clinic (groundbreaking was May 1, 2010) and Farm Industry Building construction have already been "adopted." Construction of the clinic is complete and equipage is beginning. (Groundbreaking was May 1, 2010). Major support for the school construction came from Tipp City Rotary and Dayton Rotarians Tom Laufersweiler and Tom Becker. The children at the site created drawings thanking Rotarians for helping build their new school .
The Mathare Valley slum is 500,000 people existing in a one square mile area with minimum access to water, with open ditches for sewers, and surrounded by rotting garbage and waste. The slum has a 70% HIV/AIDS rate and estimates are that half the residents are children, many orphaned by AIDS infected parents
Added note:
The Farm has a water well and pump that was powered only by a very expensive to operate diesel generator and supplies water for consumption and irrigation.The Rotary Project focused on providing solar and wind turbine energy and expanding the scope of the irrigation.
The Rotary Project Phase One focus was on making this farm energy (wind and solar electrical power generation), water (pumping from a borehole and rainwater harvest on all buildings) and food (micro-drip irrigation for more crops, building a barn and providing cows, chickens, goats and geese) self-sufficient. The project outfitted the dormitory and provided cooking and feeding capacity as well as expanded the education capability. Phase two introduces bio-gas generation from animal wastes as a source of cooking fuel and several farm industries to reduce costs and generate revenues.
Rescue of children from the Mathare Valley Slum began one year after the original Rotary Visit (May 2007) and eight months after receipt of the Rotary International Matching Grant funding.
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