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About 10,149 children and adults in Haiti and Nigeria may have had their lives saved due to repairs to the wells bringing their communities clean, fresh drinking water.
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On Jan. 13, 2008, Murphy High School student Nora Starks tragically left this world for a higher plane. Yet, the local girl who died just a few weeks before turning 18 years old is still making an impact on Earth.
More than 15 years later – in the March 23, 2022, edition – the Cherokee Scout reported on a special project by the Rotary Club of Murphy. Nora was an active member of Little Brasstown Baptist Church when a mission team told children at vacation Bible school about the need for a fresh water well in Kenya. Nora took on the project, and soon the church had raised enough money to build that well.
Nora died in an automobile accident just a month before the project was completed. Club member Bob Massey, who was close with Nora and the Starks family, was so inspired by the way she lived her life that he wanted to carry on her legacy by advancing her dream of building wells in Africa.
After exhaustive research, Massey partnered with The Living Water Project in Canada. The Rotary Club used a district grant worth $2,500 and multiple fundraisers to raise $5,000 to build the well in Kenya, but Massey’s desire to do more in her honor was not quenched. As a result, Wells for Nora was born.,
The result? Since the project started, more than 40,000 people in Haiti, Kenya and Nigeria have clean, fresh water to drink. Thousands of families have an opportunity for a better life thanks to Nora’s inspiration.
“Your donation in memory of Nora Starks has greatly improved, and possibly even saved the lives of 10,149 children and adults in Haiti and Nigeria, who have been struggling to survive without safe water or adequate sanitation after the hand-powered pumps on their water wells stopped functioning,” according to a Project Completion Report issued earlier this month.
When a pump fails and water stops flowing from a well, villagers are forced to begin drinking from streams or ponds. These sources are often far away, and almost always tainted by animal waste and other contaminants that put entire populations at risk of contracting potentially diarrheal diseases, like dysentery.
However, the Rotary Club’s donations have enabled Lifewater Canada’s locally led teams to repair well pumps in 23 communities in Haiti, plus 14 more in Nigeria. With safe water and sanitation available, people in 37 communities no longer need to walk long distances for something to drink.
In addition, “Diarrheal diseases from drinking unsafe water have been drastically reduced, and the money spent on medicines to combat these diseases is being saved for food and other essentials. Healthier children are more consistently in school, and girls are in class rather than going out in search of water for their families each day,” the report says.
This is life-changing stuff.
Her mother, Janet Drew, told the Scout, “Nora was compassionate and very determined,” which means she would have appreciated everything being done in her name for people in need.
“I know Nora is up there saying, ‘Yeah! Yeah!’ ” her mother said. “Nora would be truly humbled and grateful, and in awe that so many people would band together. Nora would be excited and thrilled to know.” After a moment, Drew added, “I’m sure she does know.” Amen to that.
David Brown is publisher of the Cherokee Scout. You can reach him by phone, 828-837-5122; email, dbrown@cherokeescout.com; or on X @daviddBstroh.