Project: WASH

Water, sanitary facilities and hygiene training for Cambodia

Clean drinking water and sanitation for nine schools, each with over 120 students and their teachers, is one of our current goals. In the past, we have already been able to successfully carry out school projects of this kind under the title WASH (Water, Sanitary Facilities and Hygiene Training).

Since numerous schools in northern Cambodia have so far had to do without fresh water, the WASH projects are making a practical and effective contribution to improving the health situation for pupils – and also for their families, as the children take home and disseminate the newly acquired knowledge about drinking water.

15,000 euros are needed for the following measures:

  1. Construction and commissioning of a rainwater collection system with 4,000-litre rainwater tanks
  2. Installation of BSF (biosand filter)
  3. Construction of the toilet buildings with latrines
  4. Construction of hygiene stations (hand washing stations)
  5. First filling of rainwater tanks with clean drinking water
  6. Training of teachers and school administrators in home water treatment and storage (HWTS) and the functioning, use and maintenance of BSF
  7. Training of approx. 120 students in HWTS and the functioning and use of BSF
  8. Tests of the water quality in the rainwater tanks and the BSF
  9. Training of teachers and school administration staff in hygiene and disposal practices and techniques.
  10. Training of approx. 120 students with regard to hygiene practices and techniques

Origin and Meaning – WaSH (Water Sanitary Hygiene) Project

Already during our aid trip in January/February 2013 we became aware of the disastrous conditions of a school near Banan. There is no drinking water, no possibility to wash your hands and no toilet. The children go to the toilet in the bushes behind the school. It is easy to imagine what health risks this condition poses.

When Bong and I, together with our team, visited the school during lessons, we asked the children who has something to drink. About 30 % of the small children have some water with them, filled in an old plastic bottle, cloudy and incredibly dirty. When a little girl proudly pulls out her bottle to drink from it, I suddenly feel the need to knock the bottle out of her hand. It brings tears to my face, especially in view of the fact that I have a little daughter at home. The idea that she would have to drink this broth and then do her emergency work (95% diarrhoea) behind the school, all this without toilet paper and without the option of washing her hands…. that thought doesn’t let me go for days.

We work out a plan to change the condition. Back in Germany, I have the opportunity to present this project to the Rotary Club Willich. My listeners quickly realize that here, many children can be helped sustainably with little money. The projects are sustainable, effective and almost unbeatable in terms of budget and quality/quantity of aid. We are build a pilot project and one of our most successful programs has its origins: WASH.

Today, four years later, in cooperation with the two Austrian organisations “Wasser-für-die-Welt” and “Last-Hope”, the Rotary Clubs “Willich” and “Neuss”, the initiative www.moeglichkeitenschenken.de of our partner agency springer f3 and of course our partner organisation Bareebo, we have already converted 21 schools and helped some 3,000 children.

Contact us and become a development aid worker. We will find a school that fits your budget and help effectively, concretely and sustainably.