October 9, 2008

PROVINCE ASSISTS STEPHEN LEWIS FOUNDATION WITH $10,000 FOR LIFE-GIVING WATER PROJECTS: MELNICK
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Funds to Provide Clean Water for Ugandans Coping With Effects of War, Poverty, HIV/AIDS


The province is providing a grant of $10,000 to the Stephen Lewis Foundation for a variety of desperately needed water-related projects in Uganda, Water Stewardship Minister Christine Melnick announced today.

“The grant will assist thousands of people living in desperate conditions to improve their water supply in a multitude of ways,” Melnick said. “Clean water for drinking, cooking and cleaning is critically important for improving the health of struggling communities.”

Since 2003, the Stephen Lewis Foundation has distributed more than $30 million for HIV/AIDS, education, water and development projects in sub-Saharan Africa.

The foundation works with African organizations to ensure maximum benefits for women who are ill and struggling to survive, orphans and AIDS-infected children, and grandmothers who bury their own children and care for their orphaned grandchildren.

The provincial grant will be used to help Ugandans:
· drill bore wells,
· install gutters and barrels to collect rain water,
· store water by putting up new tin roofs to hold water tanks,
· buy purification tablets, and
· construct latrines.

“In Uganda, small grants can have huge benefits for people who are struggling to overcome the effects of civil war, poverty and the HIV/AIDS pandemic,” said Dennis Lewycky, chair of the Friends of Uganda (Winnipeg). “This grant will help many communities restore clean water and give the people a real chance to rebuild their lives.”

Family Services and Housing Minister Gord Mackintosh will present the grant on behalf of Melnick to Stephen Lewis at a Friends of Uganda dinner at the Winnipeg Convention Centre on Saturday,
Oct. 25.

For more information on the Friends of Uganda, go to www.ucam.ca.

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