This project has been completed under the direction of Peace Corps Volunteer Aaron Eisenbarth. To read about the beginning of the project, CLICK HERE.
The project was to install a water filtration system at the 2nd School of Taraclia.
Aaron reports:
Clean water at last! The number two school in Taraclia now has clean water. Sadly it is the middle of summer break and the children have yet to come back to enjoy it, although teachers and staff have all voiced their thanks and congratulations on a project well done.
After receiving the funds for our water project we set out to purchase all of the necessary parts for installing a new sink and water filtration system. The installation took four hours total on a hot Monday morning. At the end of the day, the kitchen had access to clean water for making lunches for the kids at the school and the children had access to clean water at all times at a water tap and sink located outside of the kitchen.
This project came to fruition because of an eleventh-grade girl’s motivation to obtain clean water for her school. The goal of this project was to bring clean water to over 600 children. While that goal was accomplished another larger public mentality was affected. A by-product of the old soviet system is a dependence on the state to provide solutions for most public matters. While it wasn’t a goal of this particular project, encouraging younger generations to take hold of their future is a great addition. Empowering the children of Taraclia with the confidence that their own work can change their community for the better is an important plus to be gained from this project.
Thanks to Appropriate Projects and our two sponsors we were able to accomplish a small project with significant short- and long-term health benefits in less than a month. Thanks and congratulations to Aliona for the work she did on this project and also to the school district for agreeing to pay for new filters in the future.
Thanks to Aaron for completing this project, and to Stephen Shifley for providing most of the funding.