In 1992, the indigenous Batwa people based in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa in Uganda were evicted from the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest by local authorities with the establishment of a national park to protect the mountain gorillas. They became conservation refugees. In just a few years, the Batwa – hunters and gatherers who previously lived for millennia in the forest and often lived into their 90s – saw their life expectancy fall to 28 for adults due to lack of housing and food.

In Nepal, Westport Rotary Club helps to provide critical water sources via water taps in two villages. This initiative paved the way for improved hygiene and additional food sources. Previously, the only water source was from distant streams. The women of the village would spend 4-6 hours a day carrying water to the village from these streams. They can now spend their time educating themselves and helping the village in other ways.

Westport Rotary initiated a District Managed Grant totaling $38,000, of which Westport Rotary contributed $10,000.

In 2024, Westport Rotary helped create a college mentorship program in conjunction with M-LISADA (which stands for Music, Life Skills, and Destitution Alleviation), an NGO located in the Katwe slum of Kampala, Uganda. M-LISADA runs a unique school that teaches mainly orphans through music and dance. Westport Rotary previously supported the school in creating both a reading program and a program to prepare 3-year-olds to become school-ready, with lessons on life skills, psycho-social support, and health services. 

In June 2024, Westport Rotary Club, along with the Stratford Rotary Club, donated money to perform pediatric heart surgeries for children in the Dominican Republic. Since the Rotarian-based Gift of Life program’s inception in 1975, over 51,000 children’s hearts have been healed. Rotary Global Grants have provided major funding. The goal is to build sustainable pediatric cardiology programs in additional emerging countries.

In March 2024, Westport Rotary Club initiated a $12,000 district managed grant to provide a solar energy system and industrial fans to NicaPhoto, a Rotary-sponsored extended day school in Nagarote, Nicaragua, that supplements the half day during which 8- to 18-year-old students from Nagarote’s poorest neighborhood are not in public school. This system allows for the protection of computers used for education; an aquaponic system, which combines aquaculture (raising aquatic animals such as fish and crayfish) and hydroponics (cultivating plants in water); and a refrigerated food supply to nourish the underserved student population. The fans also provide comfort to students during periods of extreme heat due to climate change.