LCIF Eases a Heavy Burden in Tanzania

Imagine trekking across the savannah with your child in the blistering sun to collect water for drinking, cooking, bathing, and farming. For you, the three-mile journey is grueling, but standard practice. For your 5-year-old daughter, it’s an exhausting trip that brings sweat to her tiny forehead and introduces the challenges of living in a water-stressed part of the world.

Imagine arriving at a sandy riverbank, already exhausted from the walk. Imagine plunging that jug deep into murky water where mothers bathe their children, knowing the water you’ll struggle to carry home is dirty. Swatting flies from your child’s eyes, you long for her to be in school, learning to read and write so she can forge a better future for herself. But you need her to help with the back-breaking chore of fetching water. You might rest a bit with your fellow villagers, mustering the energy to make the trip back home.

Imagine knowing that tomorrow you’ll do it all over again. But right now, you can focus on today only. Today, you need water.

Relief Flows Like Water

Valentina Matiku, 15 years old, doesn’t have to imagine this scenario; it was her reality for most of her life. But with a US$77,000 grant from Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF), and the efforts of caring and compassionate Lions close to home and continents away, Matiku and others from her village no longer have to make that daunting trek.

Lions in Austria learned of the scarcity of clean water in Tanzania and reached out to local Lions. Together with 18 Tanzanian Lions clubs and non-profit SEI SO FREI, they used the LCIF grant to expand access to water in several rural communities. These communities, which rely heavily on subsistence farming, struggle constantly to get the clean water they need for daily life.

This “Land for Life” project took about nine months and consisted of digging three wells and building six water tanks throughout the Mara region. While crews focused on construction, volunteers got to work training residents to use new agriculture and fish farming equipment. The project has eased the burden of water scarcity and increased farming output for nearly 5,000 people in the region, and its ripple effect will be felt for generations to come.

In Their Own Words

It is easy to get lost in the numbers: US$77,000 from LCIF, Lions in two countries, 5,000 beneficiaries, six tanks, three wells, etc. But the real test of a grant’s success lies in its impact. That impact is perhaps best put into words by the people who feel it every day.

“Having a [well] in my village is a savior,” says Matiku. “I used to go far away to fetch surface water in the dam where animals also drink.” Thanks to the generosity of LCIF donors, Matiku and her family now have easy access to clean water. Now Matiku can focus on her education instead of her chores.

Mwacha Mwita, age 13, sees how much this LCIF grant project has improved the quality of life in her village. She is grateful that she does not have to carry water over long distances to water the trees, cook porridge, or wash plates anymore. “I enjoy being in school because I can drink water from the tank,” says Mwita.

Your gift of US$100 to Campaign 100: LCIF Empowering Service —just US$2 per week—can provide 14 people access to clean water! Young women like Valentina Matiku and Mwacha Mwita are counting on you. Visit lcif.org/donate to make a donation and ensure humanitarian efforts like this continue for generations to come. Or, fill out and return the pledge form included in this issue of LION Magazine.

Empower More of This Service

For all the reasons you serve, please give.

Empower More of This Service

As the challenges facing our world expand, so must our capacity to combat them. To build a future promising even greater service impact, LCIF—your foundation— has introduced Campaign 100: LCIF Empowering Service.

The most ambitious fundraising effort in LCIF history, Campaign 100 will span three years and aims to raise US$300 million. Campaign 100 will empower Lions to serve hundreds of millions of people by increasing our service impact, fighting diabetes, and expanding our global causes.

INCREASE SERVICE IMPACT

LCIF will expand Lions’ commitment to our communities, with a focus on Vision, Youth, Disaster Relief, and Humanitarian efforts.

FIGHT DIABETES

Together, we’ll respond to this global epidemic, helping prevent diabetes through multi-faceted, comprehensive health initiatives targeted to the communities where we live and serve.

EXPAND OUR GLOBAL CAUSES

LCIF will identify areas of greatest need and opportunity; conduct pilot projects to develop expertise; and build sustainable, long-term programs related to Hunger, Childhood Cancer, and the Environment.

In 100 years, we’ve proven that Lions united in service can transform the lives of millions. With the help of every Lion in every club, LCIF is poised to make an even greater impact today, tomorrow, and for generations to come.