After many years of inactivity, the Idaho Falls Rotary Club committed to reengage itself in International Service projects. So, when the Pocatello Rotary Club presented their project to provide drinking water for villages in Ghana at the 2022 Rotary District Conference in Sun Valley, we decided that we would offer our help in funding that venture.
Shortly after getting that project going, the Rotary Club of Accra Legon East sought help in funding another project: the building and equipping of a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) attached to the Maternity Wing of the University Hospital in Legon, a suburb of the city of Accra, Ghana. The facility, now completed, houses the Babies’ Ward, Doctor’s Office, and sanitary area.
In the meantime, both the Pocatello and Idaho Falls Clubs agreed to work together to fund other projects such as a Tree Planting project to stop soil erosion in the Machu Picchu region of Peru, fund the supply of linen in the children’s hospital in Quito, Ecuador, and support Entrapov’s efforts to provide start-up funds for entrepreneurs in Africa.
I thank the Pocatello Rotary Club for their leadership in all these projects! And we need to thank the Rotary Foundation for providing the grants that made all these projects feasible.
Finally, last year, we raised funds to help the Boise Rotary Club, the Rotary District 5400, the partner clubs Guayaquil Rotary Club and Santa Rosa East/West support a regenerative agroforestry project in the lowlands of Ecuador.
The most rewarding experience of our involvement in these projects was not only getting the projects funded and done but, more importantly, the development of friendships between club members thanks to Zoom meetings to evaluate and move the projects forward.
Arthur Kull, International Service Committee Chair – Idaho Falls Rotary Club
