By our OSDW reporter
The school kitchen where the teacher had to make her decision.
When we got to the school a group was talking near the school kitchen,
their eyes intently fixed on something or someone down the hill.
We got close to see what was going on.
It turned out the group was made up of three mothers
there to cook the school lunch, the head teacher and a student
there to find out if there’d be any lunch today.
Two older boys struggled up the hill carrying large cooking pots
half full of water from a water hole somewhere down below.
One mother rushed from the group to look at the water,
turned and shook her head no. The water was unfit to cook with.
The group surrounded the pots of cloudy, murky water.
The two other mothers disagreed. The water wasn’t that good,
but was passable.
The head teacher told us,
”Sometimes we can use the water, but
most times animals get in the water and pollute it.
The cooks have a say, but I have to decide.
School lunch is the only food most of the children will have today.
Their families depend on it, so if they don’t eat here,
most won’t eat today.”
She looked weary, burdened by the decision she now had to make.
I don’t want them to go hungry, but I don’t want
to make them sick, either.
It was her decision. No one else could make it.
She looked at the cloudy water, hesitated and
said, “go head, use it.”
She turned to us and said, “this is the hardest part of my job.”
The waiting student ran back to pass the word – they’d eat today,
An On-the-spot Decision
She made her agonizing choice and we made our decision.
We’d install two rain catchment tanks so she’d always have enough safe water.
“How soon?” she asked. “Within two weeks,” we promised.
Keeping Our Promise
How we kept our promise.
Loaded up and ready to roll. Our Operations Manger, Ken, (left) gives the signal to move out.
We arrived and our volunteers went to work. The younger, more agile
volunteers climbed up on the school roof to put the guttering in.
Others worked on the tanks. They all worked, drinking coconut water
the school brought to help keep them hydrated in the hot sun.
Volunteers Ken and Fernando ready the final hook-ups. Operation Safe Drinking Water is an all-volunteer charity. No one receives a salary or compensation.
Soon the work was all done, except for final adjustment of the faucets.
They did the hot work on top of the zinc roof. They share the joy of helping others.
The three uses of water from our rain catchment tanks.
Three uses of safe water we provide: Washing hands, drinking and washing dishes.
The school shares its safe drinking water with
the people of the nearby village.
The people of the surrounding village come for their safe water. The tanks refill with disease-free water every time it rains.
Health starts with safe drinking water.
Without it, medical care
is a revolving door.
You and I can’t live without it.
Neither can they.
Why must indigenous children be sick from bad water where it rains so often? Our tanks catch and share water for schools and villages suffering from polluted water.
An indigenous boy shows the effects of bad water. It brings anemia, dysentery, malnutrition and can lead to a lingering death. A simple rain catchment tank provides safe drinking water for years to come.
You can provide a rain catchment tank installed at
an indigenous school or village for $900.
They’re simple, easy-to-maintain.
They have only one moving part — the faucet.
They last for years and refill with disease-free
water every time it rains.
Operation Safe Drinking Water is a 501 (c) (3)
nonprofit charity. No one receives a salary or
compensation. We’re all volunteers and donors
ourselves.
We need you to join us.
donate
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Joe this is a very effective report. Having seen first hand the need there snd your operation close up all I can say is good job and Gid bless
Nice work as always, and what a story to really illustrate the need and the practical solution!
Thanks Kelly and Robert,
We saw the choices the teacher had to make. It moved us to install two rain catchment tanks instead of the one we planned. The question is, why should indigenous children get sick from b ad water where if often rains?
The solution is so simple — catch and share the rainfall.