Project Ciara

Elaine Bannon along with Ciara Sainapei, Joseph Nkanoni and some Rotarians

Enniskillen Rotary Club were delighted to welcome Elaine Bannon from the Light of Maasai Charity in Kenya, along with Ciara Sainapei and Joseph Nkanoni, and Matt Porter Rotary District International Chairperson. Elaine set up the charity in 2006 along with three Maasai men. To this day they continue to develop water, health and education programmes, and have completed many successful and life-changing projects including building classrooms at six schools, providing two complete schools and over 3,000 desks. They have laid two major water pipe lines and dug 19 shallow ground wells.

The current projects include building sand dams which will guarantee water for life to a local community, the dam will provide water for over 1,000 people and up to 10,000 people during a drought. Recently Enniskillen Rotary Club provided funds totalling £15,000 to build a Sand Dam in their name, and this money was match-funded by Rotary District, which means a second dam can be built.

 

Another project starting up is Project Ciara, named after Ciara Sainapei. This project involves transferring water from a borehole via 20Km of pipelines to provide clean drinking water to a population of 10,000 people via a large 200,000 litre water tank. Water will be pumped to this tank and will flow by gravity through pipes to serve the local community. The local people will collect the water from kiosks placed at one kilometre intervals.

Kennr Fisher, President Roy and Ivan Kee with the cups

Past President Kenny Fisher, Club President Roy Crawford,
and International Chairman Ivan Kee.

Ciara was given to Elaine when she was one and a half years old, she weighed five kilos and was dying of malnutrition.She had no teeth, no hair and could barely open her eyes, she did not know how to suckle. During the first four days with Elaine she didn't open her eyes once, and appeared to be in a coma. after six months she gained strength due to special foods containing minerals and vitamins. Friends from Rotary assisted with her recovery, and Ciara benefited from the many Rotary projects in the Rhombo region. She is now a happy and healthy five year old who loves school and loves to sing and dance. Thanks to Rotary and Elaine, Ciara is fun (and sometimes naughty), but most important of all, she is alive and well with a great chance in life.

Enniskillen Rotary Club have committed to supporting this project and cheques totalling £36,500 were handed over to Elaine by Foundation Chairman John Trimble towards the provision of pipelines in the Rhombo region.

At the recent Rotary Conference in Dublin, Enniskillen Rotary Club were presented with two trophies, one was shared with Monaghan Club for Project Rhombo, and the second trophy was for the largest contribution per member in Rotary Ireland for International Projects.