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Together we Build
January 25, 2011
Together We Built
By Lisa Featherstone-Community Action Program Coordinator
Saigon South International School
After two years of dedicated fundraising, the SSIS community, lead by the SSIS Global Issues students, was able to raise enough money to build sanitation facilities and a UV filtration system for the My Luong Primary School, located in Cho Moi district, An Giang province. Working in conjunction with the East Meets West Foundation, approximately $8,000 was raised as part of ongoing efforts to improve access to education for disadvantaged communities in Vietnam. The East Meets West (EMW) Foundation has initiated a Clean Water and Sanitation in Schools program to enhance rural schools’ lack of access to clean water and sanitary latrines; which would otherwise lead to difficult learning conditions as well as the potential onset of serious waterborne illnesses for poor children who already face many obstacles to staying in school.
The UN world report has indicated that access to potable water is a crisis of epic proportion. Some facts about water:
• “Currently, a staggering 2.6 billion people live without a safe toilet and 884 million people lack access to clean water. These problems combine to make a massive crisis for developing countries - undermining health, education, economic and gender equality progress.
• “Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of diseases and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Children are especially vulnerable, as their bodies aren't strong enough to fight diarrhea, dysentery and other illnesses.”
• “Sadly, children suffer heavily from this crisis. 4000 die from preventable water related diseases every day making it the biggest killer of young children, killing more than HIV/AIDS, malaria and measles combined every day.”
On January 18, a ceremony took place to celebrate the culmination of our combined efforts. The local teachers, parents and students were all very grateful to have such beautiful new facilities and they were quite proud to show it off. Education through community service is a way to break the cycle of poverty and SSIS’s dedication to this service has made this possible through the dedication of all its contributors.
Be sure to browse the photos of this wonderful event
