$40,000 Rotary Grant brings clean water, vocational training to 3 villages in Meru, Kenya

There is nothing like a Rotary International Grant to bring a big wallop of help to an impoverished area. Youthlinc is so grateful for our partnerships with Rotary Clubs that bring huge quality of life changes to all our international sites.

Thanks to the generosity of Sugar House, Richfield, Vernal, Southwest Valley Sunrise, Centerville/Farmington, Park City Sunrise, Park City Lunch(Utah) Rotary Clubs and the amazing Rotary Club of Middleton, England, up to 4,000 individuals in Kiamuri and Makarindi Murambani will finally have access to clean water.

Hundreds of secondary students and adults in Kajuki, Kenya will have access to computers and computer skills training, as well as training of electric sewing machines. This means these subsistence farmers will have a path out of poverty, a trade with which to feed their families.

This Rotary International Global Grant will also provide 150 desks and chairs, as well as teacher desks and chairs, so that an entire primary school in Kajuki can learn without sitting on a concrete or dirt floor. This luxury is something we take for granted in the U.S.

Additionally, the grant will supply a motorbike to Kajuki so that village leaders can check in on hundreds of community members who live far from the center of town, people who are not reachable by roads and have no means of transportation. Community leaders can transport those in need of medical care to clinics, and can bring food to those who are hungry.

Youthlinc has been working in the village of Kiamuri for four years. We've built four classrooms with donations from the Michel Family Foundation & an anonymous donor from Vernal, replacing mud and twig structures with cinder block. Two years ago, Utah Rotary Clubs participated in a grant that provided clean water to part of Kiamuri.

Youthlinc has implemented education, community health, vocational training (baking, sewing, computers, microenterprise, and cultural exchange initiatives. Becky Burton, an alum from Youthlinc's first year, got a $10,000 grant to provide libraries to the community. Another Youthlinc alum and this year's Kenya team Alum Leader, Jerika Michel, raised funds for her own library initiative a couple of years ago.

The Rotary Club of Meru and the community leaders and people of Kiamuri have been great partners in these efforts, providing oversight and planning, donating their labor and initiative, and ensuring sustainability for the quality of life improvement projects we undertake together.

This year's Kenya team will continue our efforts and see the power of Rotary International to change lives.