Putting It to Work

They stared out the school house door, past their neatly stored shoes, at the group of tall foreigners who came to their little kindergarten in the village.  They’re too young to know that they have been drinking safe water for two years, thanks to the combined efforts of MEDRIX and its partner, the Thua Thien Hue province water and sanitation authority.

(Be sure to click on each photo to see a larger version.)

Monday was a day to visit five kindergartens that have had MEDRIX safe water units installed for two years or more.  Mr. Niem of the provincial water and sanitation office, has monitored the units on a monthly basis.  Its his job to test the water and be sure the units run correctly.  Here he adds chemicals to a plastic bag to determine if there any microbes present.  MEDRIX staffers had their own role as they wanted too see how the units were holding up under two years of use.  Ken Kimball is the MEDRIX staffer who lives full time in Vietnam, and he is seem here checking a unit while MEDRIX Director of Safe Water Bob Catherman records the data.

At each school, there is a rack near the safe water unit with a plastic cup for each child. The rack allows the cups to air dry, further lessening the chance of disease being spread by the water system.   Safe water means all parts of the system must be clean: tubing, collection containers, glasses – everything.  It’s the teachers who make all of it work on a day by day basis.

Sure – it was fun laughing with the kids.  MEDRIX administrator Corene Den Herder pushes paper in the MEDRIX office everyday, so this was a wonderful way to see how donations and volunteer work affect the daily lives of poor children on the other side of the world.  And the children had a chance to laugh and play with adults from the other side of the world.  They had a good time, and ran out to the gate to say goodbye the Mr. Ken.

But – this is what its all about.  The small child of a poor farmer in a rural village in Vietnam has a drink of good safe water.   The World Health Organization lists safe drinking water as the number of health problem in the world.

Enjoy the drink.