How Rotary bypasses corruption in
Kenya.
Stories of
corruption abound in Kenya, and it appeared that there was no way our little
Rotary Club could assist the starving masses in Northern Kenya without risking
the shrinkage of funds (or food) as a result of corruption in Kenya.
NGO’s such as Care were distributing relief
foodstuffs, including water, quite effectively once the goods were at the point
of need, however, to get that food there without loss was a highly risky
business, as story after story surfaced of funds or foodstuff not getting to
the point of need.
Our club had
previous experience with the Rotary Club of Nakuru in
Kenya and had been one of four clubs around the world that formed a “working
coalition” to meet a specific need that the Street Children’s assistance
Network of Nakuru (SCANN) had a few years ago. This
project provided protection &/or security for the orphanage children. (The
other clubs were:- Vancouver, Currie Balerno of Edinburgh and
the Wellington Club in Florida USA).
With input
and work from the Gilanni family in conjunction with
the Rotary Club President at the time, SCANN has grown from an acknowledged
need into the incredible operation of today, where Street kids with no hope can
become well educated graduates of universities, and contribute to their
society.
Fellowship
& trust evolving as a result of the “Great Wall” project was a foundation
for further assistance from our Wishart Club to SCANN via the Nakuru Club & In particular, with honorary Rotarian Shamsher Gilani, SCANN’s Chairman.
This year the
Nakuru Club was discussing the massive need caused by
the drought in Northern Kenya and we were moved by the Gilani
family’s despatch of one of their trucks loaded with 18 tonnes of food to
Nairobi where the NGO Care combined them with their next Convoy to Northern
Kenya. This provided some relief to the
weak and starving masses whose images we have regularly seen across our TV screens.
The cost of a
getting the 18 tonnes of food in a large truck to the point of need was US$11,000,
at wholesale cost in Kenya.
We checked with the Nakuru Club
& Shamsher to assess if it was possible to
despatch another truckload if we provided the funds and the immediate positive response
was great to receive.
We quickly forwarded the US$11,000 to RAWCS (Rotary
Australian World Community Service) in Brisbane, who because of previous fund transfers,
were able to immediately despatch the funds to the Nakuru
Rotary Club, who in turn, coordinated the transfer of funds for the second
truck containing 18 tonnes of maize flour, cooking fat, biscuits, salt, water,
and jerry cans to the area of need in Garissa County
Kenya. This all happened within eight days of our query.
The people are malnourished and hungry because their
animals died due to the drought and they have no tangible source of income,
they completely relied on nomadic pastoralism to sustain them and have been
left hungry.
They are uneducated, have
no technological know-how and have no form of employment to earn a living.
Being able to
rapidly assist those in need in other parts of our world, highlights one of the great strengths of Rotary. There are very few
organisations that can guarantee that every cent donated/assigned to a need in
a developing country actually gets to that point of need without some type of
shrinkage. It comes about not only because of strict auditing processes within
each club, but the integrity of individual Rotarians who give of themselves
throughout the world, and friends of Rotary such as Shamsher
Gilani’s family. This stark contrast with corruption
is really quite amazing when working within corrupt countries such as Kenya.
The Wishart
Club can co-ordinate funds for the despatch of additional food trucks to meet
the need in Northern Kenya, and as the funds are channelled through RAWCS they
are tax deductable. Multples
of A$1000 are workable, although its much easier to
handle a single $11.000., where a group of clubs have combined their
fundraising.
The Wishart
club with help from the Nakuru Club and the Gilani family will provide feedback of quantity and costs
of products that are actually despatched and where the food was distributed.
This is not a CARE project, we just tap the organisational structure of one of the
existing NGO’s such as CARE, which adds to the food available for them to
distribute. It is a very effective distribution process of high integrity
operating in Kenya. For further
information contact Bob Lemon 0429300739 / bob@nemol.net
or Andrew Turner 0409494576 / andrew.turner@invensysrail.com Both of the Wishart Rotary Club
Article by Bob Lemon:-
Wishart Rotary Club. District 9630 Australia. Sept 2011
Food being delivered and distributed in the Garrissa area Kenya