By our OSDW reporter
From 75% of students missing class to only 10%.
Sickness rate at an indigenous school falls from 75% of
the student body to 10% after a safe drinking water tank is installed.
Where: Bahia Grande School / San Cristobal Island / Bocas del Toro archipelago / Panama
Source: Principal and teacher at the school for seven years – Senorita Velkis Quiroz.
Date: August, 2010
Principal Velkis Quiroz (r) with one of her teachers. She has taught and been principal at the school for seven years.
A school principal’s urgent canoe trip.
We looked out to sea from our island base and saw a small canoe coming
in. To our surprise it was Senorita Quiroz, the principal of the
school at Bahia Grande. She explained that an urgent problem brought her.
Seventy-five percent of her students were sick and out of school enough
to damage their grades. Some of her most promising and brightest students
were falling behind due to chronic sickness. She asked for a safe drinking water
tank for her kids. Her appeal – and her journey by canoe – touched our hearts.
We said yes. Because the need was critical we promised a tank within a week.
Principal Quiroz paddled all the way from Bahia Grande to our island base to ask for help for her students.
We promised a quick response — and we delivered..
A promise kept: within the week we installed a new rain catchment tank for the school of 72 indigenous students.
Months later we went back to the school to ask Senorita Quiroz
about the difference the tank made. She sent us a note the next day
after checking her records. She said:
Before we had the water tank, around 75% of the children
had some kind of disease like diarrhea, vomit, parasites and other kinds of
stomach problems that kept them out of school. Since you gave us the water tank
the number of children absent due to sickness has fallen to around 10%.
Velkis Quiroz, Principal – 27 August, 2010
Sick no more.
Pablito, a bright young student, doesn't miss classes from sickness as he did before.
Brother and sister, once hard-hit by sickness, are healthy and happy - and doing well in school.
Many indigenous schools are in urgent need of safe drinking water.
Far too many promising young students are missing school due to sickness.
The water tank for Senorita Quiroz cost only $900, but has cut absenteeism due
to sickness from 75% to almost nothing. It has spared children from chronic sickness
and got them back into school.
Recent rains have refilled Senorita Quiroz’s tank with safe, disease-free water.
Frequent rains in the area will keep it full for years to come.
But water-borne diseases knock far too many children out of school.
We need 17 new tanks within the next thirty days.
You can make a difference in the lives of indigenous children.
A one-time donation can mean years of safe drinking water.
Please donate a safe water tank — or contribute towards one today.
Just click on our logo below.
Thank you.
OSDW is a 501 (c) (3) charity. We’re all volunteers.
No one receives a salary or compensation.
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See short videos of Operation Safe Drinking Water in Action.
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