Boat expedition to remote outer islands pays off.
Main heading
521 indigenous schoolkids and four communities in remote outer islands to have safe drinking water
An Operation Safe Drinking Water team headed out at dawn for the remote outer islands to deliver needed books and arrange to install four safe drinking water tanks which will provide safe water to 521 school kids, plus others living nearby.
Please insert photos and captions.
Also add the map from this link. Pehaps mark the locations on the map?
http://www.worldheadquarters.com/panama/destinations/bocas/
Aqua Cay – Water Key
A remote, distant island community of mostly fisherman, Agua Cay has 295 schoolchildren who will be served by the safe drinking water tank.
The existing water system consisting of a gravity-flow water tower with water pumped from a distant spring is not functioning due to a broken pump.
It rains heavily in this area making a simple, low-maintenance rain-catchment system with only one moving part (the faucet) ideal for this area.
The roof will allow seventy feet of rain-catchment guttering and result in the tank filling –and refilling—very rapidly during rainfalls.
When school is not in session the safe drinking water will be available to nearby residents.
Valiente
Valiente is a remote town on the Peninsula Valiente, which is isolated with no land contact with the mainland.
61 school kids will directly benefit from the safe drinking water tank which will be installed and provide drinking water as well as water for cooking and washing dishes for the school kitchen.
Schools provide one meal a day for the kids. Parents volunteer their time to help prepare food, cook and clean up. They need access to clean water to avoid contamination of food and inadequate cleaning of plates, cups and utensils. Polluted water in a school kitchen can have dire consequences, often leads to an outbreak of dysentery and stomach problems.
Our Safe Drinking Water tank will provide that safe water on an almost continuous basis – filling and refilling — as it rains frequently and heavily in the outer islands.
Ensenada
This village at the head of the bay has 86 schoolchildren in need of safe water. As in Valiente (above), the school needs safe water for drinking, as well as for the school kitchen. Our water tank installation here will be ably supervised and monitored by Audrey, a young American Peace Corps volunteer who lives on-site.
Punto Serain
70 schoolchildren here will directly benefit from safe water to drink and for the school kitchen. Our project here will be ably supervised and monitored by Kaitlan, another young American Peace Corps volunteer who lives nearby.
One cannot over-emphasize the importance of safe water for school kitchens. Experience has shown that polluted water quickly leads to an outbreak of water-borne disease.
But the benefit goes beyond the school. In each case local villagers can access the safe water after the schools needs are met or during school recess.
Perhaps more than any other areas of the archipelago, the outer regions are ideal for rain-catchment, as rain is more frequent and heavier this far out into the Caribbean.
Those who donate can rest assured their gifts will give again as the simple, low-cost, low-maintenance tanks ( with only one moving part) fill and refill.
