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Primary School Well Project
As a Peace Corps Volunteer, you can often be a catalyst for the community to create healthy solutions where the government infrastructure has not provided all that it should. In the Peace Corps Madagascar Health sector, improving water and sanitation figures among the chief goals of a volunteer, in partnership with her or his community.
At the local primary school -- which is in itself in a state of disrepair, with only 2 fully functioning classrooms for over 200 students -- there had been no well for a long time, before I arrived. Working with the school principal and class teachers, we figured out a way to get the well hole cleaned out, re-dug, and to construct a sturdy and safe well structure above ground, with a portion of the materials and financing coming from the parents' association and a matching portion coming from private donations (from friends and family in the United States).
We purchased bricks, cement, steel reinforcement rods, and an old cooking oil drum (to be flattened and fashioned into a well cover. Sand, gravel, materials transport, and hole digging were among the parents' association's in-kind contributions to the project's completion. Labor fees were also funded through private donations. The entire project cost under $100 dollars.
Creating access to water at the school is a natural step in cultivating a healthier education experience. Kids can now draw well water from just beside their classrooms rather than carrying bucketfuls from across the road at the clinic well. Still no tap water in our neck of the woods, but now the primary school enjoys the same level of water access as the rest of the community.
It's strange how public spaces, educational institutions, with the most potential to get a large group of interested community stakeholders involved in its care and improvement, are often the most neglected...
But sometimes all it takes is a little infusion of enthusiasm, a little bit of energy and collaboration, and it's amazing what the community can accomplish.
lilturns |
Latest page update: made by lilturns
, May 4 2007, 8:29 PM EDT
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Keyword tags:
primary
Sanitation
School
water
well
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