St. Joseph’s Hospital is in Northern Tanzania and close to Lake Victoria and the Serengeti Preserve. The hospital runs out of water in the dry season and therefore needs to close for over four months each year. The Rotary Club of San Luis Obispo joined the Rotary Club of South Lake Tahoe to complete a water storage project to keep the hospital open year around.
The project was funded with a TRF Global grant and the total project cost was $96,000. All materials and labor were local. After conducting a soil test, it was determined that local residents could produce interlocking bricks on site by mixing a small amount of concrete with the local soil. Ten very large water storage tanks were constructed on site to catch the rain runoff from the metal roofs of the buildings. This provides adequate water for the hospital to provide necessary services year-round.
