With the sponsorship of The Rotary Foundation, Hearts For Hue is carrying out a water supply system and environmental sanitation project for ethnic minority people in Huong Nguyen Commune in the A Luoi District.
This project will benefit 1.252 people in 316 households. Up to now, local people have been fetching water from contaminated streams and has been using contaminated water for cooking and other everyday activities, putting the villager’s health at risk.
Water is an important resource for all people in the world. People can die from lack of clean water to drink. Some people do not think about water because in the countries they live it is almost an unwritten rule that cities, counties, communes or provinces will provide this resource.
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene are to three core issues that have an interdependent nature. For instance, without toilets, water sources become contaminated; without clean water, basic hygiene practices are not possible.
One of the activities carried out within the scope of the project aims to raise the awareness among people about the importance of water, sanitation, and hygiene, as well as providing people with practical advice and knowledge about these three issues
For that purpose, the project has scheduled different training sessions on water supply system and environmental sanitation. Among that training sessions, four of them are specifically designed for the children, the youngest people in the commune
Two of those sessions were carried out on March 17th and March 21st, 2018. The sessions were delivered by Mrs. Tran Thi Minh Tam, a Senior Officer of Hue Water Company. 50 girls and boys attended each training session. Another two sessions will be taught until they reach the figure of 200 participants.
General issues were addressed in the first place, such as “The water cycle” and “The function of a forest”. These general topics are intended to remind the young people of the commune that water is the result of a complex natural process and the importance of climate cycles. It is good to remind younger generations that water is in the origin of life and that is precisely water what makes the Earth so different from other planets in the solar system.
“Water treatment process” and “How to check water quality” were the topics addressed in the second part of the training session. These topics intend to transmit basic knowledge so that the youngest con become familiar with certain relevant aspects of the water supply system, as well as to provide with certain practical advice to detect possible problems in the quality of the water.
Clean water is essential for life. We need water to drink, to bathe, and to clean our homes. Therefore, it is basic to ensure that water does not contain harmful bacteria, lead, pesticides, nitrites/nitrates, chlorine, or hardness, and maintains an appropriate pH is crucial for good health.
You can determine a great deal about the quality of your water by tuning in to your senses. To smell, taste, and visually examine the water. Test the quality of
your water through your senses, first, by giving it a good smell trying to detect bleach smell, rotten-egg smell or musty or earthy smell. By tasting it to find out whether the taste of your water offends you what may happen when water tastes very foul,
or if tastes like bleach or salt. You can also use your eyes to look for floating particles or general cloudiness after allowing water to run for a few minutes.
By Mrs. Tran Thi Minh Tam conducts the training session with great experience and the best of skills to get children all information. All of us were happy to see how children share their knowledge and capture the most important aspects of the information given to them.
At the end of the training session, there is a mixture of excitement and joy. By looking at the faces of children we could say that we might be in the presence of a generation of future experts. It is enough for us though that they know how to detect and identify problems and act with care
Other activities within the scope of the project include training sessions include:
– 1 training course on hygienic latrine construction to 50 local people
– 1 training course on presentation skills, water supply system and environmental sanitation for 50 officers and headers of the village
– 6 training courses on water supply system and environmental sanitation for 300 local people
We want to thank The Rotary Foundation and the teams of Hearts For Hue for this effort.
Mr Agustin – International Volunteer
