Sometimes, it is the young ones who have the biggest heart.
When Westlock’s Rainbow for the Future NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) began planning for its 3rd Annual Sports for Ethiopia event March 16 -17, Cy Klassen was ready to take part once again.
Klassen works at St. Albert Self Storage, owned by Rainbow Chairman Leo Seguin. Seguin had shared the fundraiser this year was to help finish off a water well project in central Ethiopia, in a dry region where the only water available is from highly-polluted Koka Lake, formed behind a power dam on the Awash River.
The well, about 98 metres (321 feet) deep, drilled last fall, turned out to be much more productive than anticipated, with a flow capacity of 28 litres per second. Most wells in the general area produce just six litres per second at most.
Which means, in short, that this well will be able to provide good clean, safe drinking water for many more people than originally projected, supplying water to four communities, a total of about 20,000 people instead of the original projected five to six thousand.
That was the good news.
But it will take much more infrastructure – like piping and water stations, etc. – than the original plan, and thus more cost.
When a group from Rainbow for the Future visited the area in late January, the well was capped off until the rest of the infrastructure could be put in place. Also visited a short distance away and on a rise about 125 metres (410 feet) above the well, where the start of a large water storage cistern was underway. The plan is to pump water from the well to the cistern and have it gravity fed to the four communities.
So that was the big push for the Sports for Ethiopia event this year.
Klassen shared all this information with family members, including six-year-old grandson Rylan Sveinbjornson. This little fellow decided he would raise some money for these people in Ethiopia, whom he has never seen. He probably has very little idea or concept of where Ethiopia is.
Rylan went out, collected bottles and sold them. In this way, he earned $100.
“I told him if he donated $25 of that, it would be enough,” Klassen said. “But Rylan said no, he wanted to donate all $100, because the people there needed to have good clean water.”
The morning of March 17, Klassen and many of his family members, including Rylan, were out on the ice at the Westlock Spirit Centre for a family scrimmage game, donating funds they had raised.
That evening, at the banquet, Chairman Seguin called Rylan and his grandfather up on stage, and made a special Young Humanitarian Award to Rylan, and gave him a couple of other gifts, including a Rainbow for the Future cap.
“He asked me later, ‘Grandpa, am I really the first one to get this award?’ When I assured him he was, he seemed quite impressed. The next day, he wore the cap to a hockey game at home too,” Klassen said.
