Imagine freeing an entire community from poverty.
Imagine cleaning this community’s contaminated water source. Imagine giving the children of the community the chance to learn.
Now imagine doing all this for just $1.
Katina Matheson, president of Western’s Rotaract Club, says if each student were to donate one dollar, the community of Katigonda, Uganda in East Africa would be free of poverty.
“We could dig new water wells, build a multi-purpose centre, bring the schools closer to the children,” says Matheson, of the club’s Adopt a Village program. “I think it would be great if the campus unified in this initiative and try to free a village from poverty together.”
Boasting more than 500 members, the Rotaract Club offers opportunities for students to be involved in and volunteer for local and international communities, through sponsorship of the Rotary Club of London.
While this latest initiative is something Matheson admits is a large undertaking – $35,000 – she also feels can be accomplished as a team. Uganda is one of the least developed countries with the majority of its population living under the poverty line, with families making less than $260 Canadian per year.
Despite government efforts to raise education levels, many people are still illiterate making the economic situation even worse. While the primary means of food production is farming, there is generally little excess farm produce they can trade.
“Adopt a Village focuses on the three main pillars of poverty in order to adequately address all the issues necessary in effectively ridding a village from poverty,” says Matheson, a fourth-year double-major student (Criminology, Literature).
“The metaphor of a three-legged stool is commonly used to describe the issues of health, hunger and education and how all are necessary for effective poverty relief. If one is gone the others will fail.”
Matheson adds the idea is to also leave behind the means to affectively teach the villagers – population 500 – how to continue on with the work that will be done in their community.
Along with handing out purple ribbons (signifying poverty), Rotaract will begin fundraising next week with booths set up at the University Community Centre and various faculties. Coin jars will also be located at all campus Tim Horton’s outlets and other hospitality services outlets. You can also donate online at usc.uwo.ca/clubs/rotaract.
This time next year, Matheson hopes to be applying for matching funds through the Rotary International and see Katigonda, Uganda begin its transformation out of poverty.
“Imagine being able to say you helped an entire village escape poverty,” Matheson. ”