Scheels headed to Kenya to help

Shurie and Phillip Scheel and more than two dozen members of the Rotary Club are heading to Kenya July 6 to bring clean water to children in rural schools.

Shurie said there is no better way to find yourself in the world, than to lose yourself in the service of others.

“When you take your time, energy and resources to serve others, you are the one who benefits the most,” she said. “We have made the best friendships and grown so much as people through serving this community, and we hope to have an impact that reaches all the way around the world through this project.”

This will be the Scheels second time heading to Kenya to help with the Clean Water Filter Systems project that began in 2013 by Joe Schon, Shurie said. The couple plans to keep going each year for the next five to eight years to continue the project after taking over the grant management of the project for Schon.

“Once you have seen the need of the children in Kenya, it is impossible not to do something to help,” Shurie said. “There is so much need and clean water is just one place to start.”

As part of a mission trip, Schon traveled to Meru, Kenya in 2008 and witnessed students gathering drinking water from ponds and streams, which also serviced local livestock and wild animals. He realized the schools had no clean drinking water or basic sanitation. When he returned back home, he was determined to figure out how to bring clean drinking water to thousands of students in Kenya. Thus began the Kenya Clean Water Filter Systems project, wherein everyone in the school is taught how it works and why it is important. The system Schon helped create captures rainwater in gutters, stores it in a tank and filters it through a 400-pound, four-foot tall bio-sand filter for clean water. All resources and materials are sourced locally.

So far, the systems have serviced 19,000 students in 55 rural schools. This July, another 35 schools will be reviewed for material costs and 30 more schools, serving 9,000 students are expected to receive the water systems.

Shurie said the group has not yet decided what the next phase of the project will be. She said they are thinking it might be easier to manage the project as “micro-grants.” What they would do is partner one school, or a few schools, with a Rotary Club, or any group, in the United States. That Rotary Club, or group, would raise the money to install a filter and get that school clean water, and they would manage the grant and make the connections from the United States to Kenya. They would do the school assessments, installation, training and on-going management once the installation is complete. Shurie said she is hoping after this trip, they will have made a decision about what the next phase of the project will be.

For those who cannot go to Kenya to help out, Shurie suggests joining a service club, such as the Rotary Club, or support their fundraising efforts.

The Scheels will be in Kenya until the end of July, Shurie said, but they will have a follow-up presentation about the trip in August. The date and time and other information will be determined after the trip.

“Once we are the primary grant managers, we will probably start having more regular fundraisers in the community and around the area,” she said. “We are always open to suggestions and have received suggestions which we are implementing in many projects that people have mentioned in conversation. We are looking for partnerships, and ways to reach more people, so if you have ideas, please don’t hesitate to mention them.”

The project is still accepting donations. All the money will go towards the project and not to lodging or travel expenses of those traveling. The money will be used in a variety of ways, including churches, medical clinics, goats, trees, tilapia farms, women’s groups and school supplies. A tax deductible donation can be sent to Trinity Methodist Church c/o Shurie Scheel, 527 Warren St., Thermopolis, WY 82443.