Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Children understand the need! You can help make his wish come true.

Children in our schools rarely give a second thought to water and bathrooms that are abundantly available in our schools.  We received a copy of a handwritten note from a young boy, Saif, in Pakistan through our implementing partner, Save the Children.  Saif mentions that his village water source was destroyed in a recent flood.  He said that diarrhea was a huge problem, and the mothers had to walk out of the village to collect drinking water.  His note was requesting that Save the Children complete a WASH in Schools project in his school.  He said,  "I will play our role."  The community and the children are willing to help with construction, and form hygiene clubs that manage and help sustain the project- all they are doing is asking for help to provide an essential basic need- WATER!

Translation of the letter from Urdu to English:


Mr. Badar Sahib, Assalamualaikum!

Eid greetings to you, your family and your team. At this happy occasion of eid I would also like to say that we should not forget our brothers and sisters whose houses have been washed away by the flood. At the same time I want o divert your attention towards another important issue which has made hundreds of thousand lives of the children at risk i.e. “un-availability of safe drinking water” as you know water is an integral part of our life, but safe water. As you know that diarrhea is one of the main causes of mortality amongst children, and every year hundreds of thousand children die due to it. Polluted water contributes 30-30% to this problem. I also learned in Child Focused health Education (CFHE) sessions by Save the Children that polluted water causes many other problems as well. The current flood destroyed water channels and other water sources across the country. My village is also one of the effected villages, which has directly affected me, my SHN CFHE group fellows and rest of the children of my town. The flood damaged the village water supply scheme. We temporally get water from the stream which is not safe water. My group children and some other children refused to drink that water. My mom and some other women of the village Fitch the water from a water source out of the village for drinking purpose, but we use stream water for washing cloths and taking shower etc.

I request Save the Children to solve this issue. We will play our role.

“Water is life”

 Regards

Saif Ur Rehman

CFHE Volunteer

Peshora village, District and Tehsil, Batgram





Water IS life!
 Everyday, H2O for Life asks teachers and students to help make this wish come true.  Won't you also help Saif and others obtain water, toilets and hygiene education at their schools?
Gather your friends, or individually make a donation in Saif's name at:
http://www.h2oforlifeschools.org/ 

Thank You!