Clean Water: From the Triangle to the Dominican Republic

Story and pictures courtesy of Cary MacGregor Rotary Club.

Cary, NC – Nineteen members from seven Cary-area Rotary and Rotaract Clubs recently returned from the Dominican Republic where they worked jointly with Dominican Rotary Clubs constructing and installing 44 latrines in three low-income villages outside the city of Santiago during a week long stay in-country.

Clean Water: From the Triangle to the Dominican Republic

North Carolina Rotary District 7710 basically encompasses the Triangle – 45 clubs from Cary to Zebulon.

Members of the North Carolina Rotary District 7710 teamed up with a Rotary club in the Dominican Republic in a project to improve sanitary conditions and reduce disease for low income families.

District 7710 Governor Rick Carnagua explained that Rotary has an intensive focus on clean water projects. “District 7710 raised some $7,300 and Rotary International matched $7,200 to help offset the cost of construction materials. The local Dominican Rotary Clubs worked with the villagers to dig the holes, install concrete slabs and concrete stools. When in-country, District 7710 members constructed the walls and roofs and installed the latrines.”

“While primitive by our standards, these latrines and proper hand washing are critical for the health of these Dominican villages where the alternative is defecation outdoors where it can pollute local rivers and cause wide spread cholera outbreaks.” Carnagua said. “In addition, we provided the villagers proper hand washing techniques and hygiene, distributed mosquito nets, toilet paper, soap, children’s books and toys.”

The group of nineteen Rotarians came back to North Carolina with many humbling stories as well as new found friends that they plan to continue working with on future projects. The team establish a blog (http://rotary7710.ikioskcloud.com) with pictures and stories of their trip, and accomplish much towards their Rotary goal of Peace Through Service.