RMHS Interact Rotary Club Makes Donation to School in Uganda
Members of the Rolling Meadows High School Interact Rotary Club conducted a fundraiser at the end of last school year to help support children who attend the San Raphael Junior School in Bunnamweri-Kakoola, Mpigi, Uganda.
The Interact club learned about San Raphael from the Rotary Club of Arlington Heights. In early 2019 a group of about 15 people, primarily Rotarians from the Arlington Heights Club and the Lake of the Hills Club, traveled to Uganda for a service trip to build an aquaponics system for the students at San Raphael. Aquaponics is a food production system that couples aquaculture (raising fish in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) whereby the nutrient rich aqauaculture water is fed to hydroponic grown plants. Water is circulated between two levels of the aquaponics tanks providing nutrients to both the fish and the plants.
San Raphael School has a student population of about 300 children in grades roughly equivalent to K-7 in the US school system. Prior to the installation of the aquaponics system, the children had almost no protein in their diets. The six aquaponics tanks would produce enough tilapia for the children to each have about one pound of fish each month.
In December 2020, the pump that carried water from the local well to the aquaponics tanks collapsed. The cost to repair/replace the pump was $2800.
When the Interact Rotary Club at RMHS learned about San Raphael and the collapse of the pump, they decided to make funding a new pump their international project for the year. Due to Covid restrictions, their fundraising activities were limited to requesting donations from friends and family. Using a variety of social media and print outreach, they raised $2697 in about a month's time. The Arlington Heights Rotary Club committed to match their donations up to $1000.
On Friday, September 17, Interact Club members had the opportunity to meet personally with Father Dennis Kasule, a native of the Mpigi district. Father Dennis, along with his parents, founded Stepping Stones Foundation of Hope and San Raphael Church. The Interact members presented their check for $2697 to Father Dennis.