To date, the Rotary Club of Bangkok South has completed over 670 water projects across the kingdom, helping schools and their communities, providing clean drinking water for up to 18 years, and positively changing the lives of thousands of students, their families, and their communities.

These numbers are inspiring, showing how many children avoid missing school due to waterborne diseases and how families gain daily access to clean water, fostering a sense of hope and purpose in supporting these life-changing projects.

As members of a Rotary club focused on supporting underprivileged children, we understand the significant impact each water project has on schools and local communities when we provide this essential need every day.

We must also remember that each system saves schools at least 1 Baht, and possibly more, from their allotted 22 Baht lunch subsidy. While it may not seem a concern to many of us, in rural areas, this can significantly affect the nutritional quality and quantity provided every school day.

However, many of us, our friends, colleagues, and family may ask, “What is in it for me?” “How does my donation improve community health and education?”

To answer, there are three compelling reasons to give: create a legacy, gain recognition, and experience personal gratification, comforted by the knowledge that, as Rotarians, we ensure transparency and accountability at every step of project implementation, so your entire donation makes a real difference.

What better way to celebrate a birthday, a wedding anniversary, or, in fact, any personal or family milestone? With every water project donation, you will receive a certificate from the club and a letter of thanks from the school.

For more than 25 years, our systems and their signage have let students, teachers, villagers, and visitors recognize those who have marked milestones by sharing with others. This is one reason so many of us Rotarians are Water Fellows or System Donors and have contributed our share toward installing these life-changing systems. Yes, as Rotarians, it is in our nature to give, but we also appreciate being recognized for doing so. Water projects offer that opportunity.

This recognition is important for us and for those who support our projects. This is why we have certificates, pins, and the annual Paul Harris Dinner at which donors are thanked by those of us who have shared this experience or who plan to do so in the future.

The trip to each school offers more than just a project; it’s an authentic experience of Thailand’s warm hospitality and vibrant culture, fostering curiosity and a connection to the country beyond the usual tourist routes.

The inauguration of each system can be scheduled for when you have time, or when friends and family are visiting, or when it coincides with a company trip. The trip to each school is an adventure, a journey into Thailand we read about but seldom see, let alone take part in.

From sharing food and drinks with amazing Rotarians in places we would never have found to enjoying them with locals, each trip has its own flavor, its own style, its own flow. For those living here, each one is a reminder of what is so great about living in Thailand and opens the eyes of our visiting families and friends to an experience in Thailand impossible to encounter except on a water system inauguration adventure.