For over seven years, the pupils of St. George’s Girl’s primary school, Falomo, Lagos, have been pleading with the government and organisations to assist them with electricity to power a borehole that had been in the school for many years without functioning.
The Catholic Church of Assumption besides the school took up the responsibility by allowing the children to fetch water to flush the toilet and do other things, but the pupil and the cleaners who were not happy trekking down to the church to fetch water each time they wanted to flush their toilets and to clean the compound kept praying that one day, God would answer their prayers.
Just like a miracle, their prayers were answered as the Rotary Club of Falomo, came to their rescue by constructing and installing a Sola-powered system to power the borehole.
During to commissioning of the project penultimate Thursday, there was wild jubilation in the school as the pupils, teachers and other staff expressed joy and gratitude to the people that have them succour.
A pupil, Jane, said when she saw the water running, it was as if she was dreaming until she touched and felt the running water,” for many years, we had been going to the church besides our school to fetch water. Sometimes our hands would be paining us after fetching water and sometimes, the water would splash on our bodies. In fact, some of us would fall down while conveying water from the Church to our school. Many of us preferred to hold our mess with us until we arrived home. But today we are happy that we can now flush our toilet with ease and wash our hands after going to the toilet”.
The headteacher of the school, Mrs. Adebayo Sherifat Bolanle, who was highly elated prayed for the Rotary Club of Nigeria, especially that of Falomo that has adopted the school as one of their own.
According to her, she had nothing to say, but to thank God that one of the greatest challenges of the school has been solved,” I really pray that God will bless Rotary Club, especially that of Falomo District that has brought succour to our school and relieved us of a great burden. Before now, the pupils had been going to the nearby Catholic church to fetch water. You can imagine what would have happened if the Church was not supplying us with water. For now, the pupils can go to the toilets, flush them and wash their hands after using the toilets. I thank the Rotary Club of Falomo for this wonderful thing it has done for us. May God continue to bless and protect you people”
While handing over the project to the School, District Governor of Rotary Club 9110, Remi Bello, FCA, said that he was highly elated for what the Rotary club of Falomo has done,” we are here under the auspices of Rotary Club of Falomo. It is one of our 234 districts. We are here for the commissioning of one of our projects for the year. We are donating Sola powered system to the school. The borehole has been in place for years, but there was no electricity to drive the machine, so the school cleaners and pupils were not enjoying the water. They used to go to the nearby Catholic church to fetch water and this was not good.
” But today, Rotary Club of Falomo has lived up to the expectation of Rotary Club with the slogan power to change a life. With the construction and installation of the Solar powdered project, going outside the school to fetch water is now a thing of the past. As we all know, the month of March for the Rotary Club is known as Water, Hygiene, and Sanitation, so we have not only come to give the school water, but we have also come to give them hygiene and sanitation. It is a highly commendable project that we have done”.
Earlier, the President Rotary Club of Falomo, Ijeoma Onyeador, said she was the happiest person as the club under her watch was able to bring succour and put smiles on the faces of the workers and pupils of the school,” the school had been lacking water for years. As you have heard from the headteacher, they used to go to the Catholic church nearby to fetch water when they have a borehole. The borehole has been in the school but there was no electricity to power it. So when we came to our adopted school to do a need assessment, we discovered that their immediate need was water. So, without wasting time we called our Engineers to assess the work and we started construction immediately. You can see the smiles on the faces of the pupils.
” The pupils are so happy. You know that it is in the character of the Rotary Club to assist the people where the government and other organizations have failed them. That is what we have done, putting smiles on their faces. We thank God that there is the sun to power the machine and we shall continue to do necessary maintenance of the Solar powdered project. We have spent over N1million on this project and we are still spending. We are not here to give them just water, but also to maintain hygiene and sanitation. You can see running water in the school that has existed without water. The children can now flush the toilets with ease”.
For Public Image director, Mr. Ibrahim Sule, other spirited Nigerians, and organizations should emulate the good gesture of the Rotary Club,” Rotary Club is doing a lot worldwide. You can see what we are doing in Falomo District, putting smiles on people’s faces, but we can’t be everywhere, so I am calling on other organizations and good people of Nigeria to look for areas where they can assist in their immediate needs. It is not that the people need water, you start building a recreation center that they don’t need. Give the people their immediate needs. That is what our president does, she would go for a need assessment and know the people’s needs and we will start work immediately. That is my advice to people who want to assist those who are in need to give them their immediate need and not force them to accept whatever they give to them”.
