By Justice Lionel Eshun, Rotary Club of Tema, Ghana

Life is usually made up of special moments which make it worth living. I least expected that my Rotary special moment was going to fall on 30 August, 2016.

I joined Rotary barely three years ago, and by dint of my dedication and commitment to service and other Rotary activities, I got elected director of club service projects for the 2016-17 Rotary year. What exactly motivated me to join Rotary?

It was the opportunity to serve, to help improve the community and assist the needy, and to make new friends.

Through the Rotary/USAID International H2O Collaboration in Ghana, I visited five rural villages where access to potable water and proper sanitation is in short supply, despite the effort by government to improve sources of drinking water to these communities.

Despite a slight pain in my right arm on the morning of 30 August, our journey began. And what an experience it was! The travelling group consisted of myself, Andy Berko, chairman of our sanitation and environmental committee, and Adolph Tay, all members of my club. We were also joined by Mr. Samuel Dartey, a representative of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA).  After criss-crossing much of the district, we visited Kojo Nto, Apetaese, Kolifianu, Nsuobri and Avornyokope, all located in the GA South district of the Greater Accra region of Ghana.

I was not surprised when in two of the five villages we visited, we were mistaken for politicians, since it was close to national elections. But this gave us the opportunity to further explain and brief them on the activities of Rotary, and of course to mention our End Polio program, which some of these villagers had seen or heard about.

Meeting with community leaders in Nsuobri village.

It was a no-brainer actually, when given the choice of project they consider a priority, that all five villages chose water. Water is life.

Long may the collaboration between Rotary and USAID continue to provide more rural communities with safe drinking water and alleviate the incidence of water borne diseases. The least we can do for these rural communities is to ensure they are fit and healthy enough to go about their farming for sustenance.

To be of service and to be helpful feels good and right, and my Rotary moment was the joy and the expectation I saw on these peoples’ faces and their expressions concerning the promise of getting clean drinking water.

The product of Rotary is service, and as Rotarians, the opportunity to serve and provide community service to our local communities is paramount. The sense of fulfillment and satisfaction that comes with service is priceless.

I’m patiently waiting to go back and share in their joy during the construction and commissioning phase, happy and proud to be a Rotarian.