- PSALM students raise funds to sponsor a Landmines Blow! water well in Cambodia.
- “You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person”. PSALM: Proud Students Against Landmines organize “Starfish” Days to raise funds for a water well in Cambodia. The wells provide clean safe water to families, landmine survivors, internally displaced persons and refugees. Children are especially at risk when going outside of their villages for clean water. Our well project is called “The Starfish Project”. This story is emblematic of the idea that each person we serve is a person who can genuinely benefit from our work. Seemingly hopeless problems can only be solved by taking the first step. STARFISH STORY: Walking down a deserted beach after a storm, a man noticed someone in the distance. When he got closer, he saw a young child bend down, pick up an object from the sand and throw it into the ocean. The ritual was repeated over and over, time and again. As the man approached the youngster, he said, “May I ask what you are doing?” “I’m throwing these starfish back into the ocean. If I don’t help them, they won’t get back into the water and they’ll die.” “I understand,” the man replied, “but there must be thousands of starfish on this beach and it’s hundreds of miles long. You can’t possibly make a difference.” The child bent down, picked up another starfish and tossed it into the ocean. “It made a difference to that one!”
PSALM teams up with Landmines Blow! for this project. Landmines Blow! is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness of the global landmine crisis. Benefits of Gaining Access to Clean Water…
* Women and children do not need to travel through areas littered with landmines to collect water.
* The time saved in carrying water means that women have more time for being involved in productive activities (such as agriculture, tending animals or income generating activities such as spinning cotton for sale at markets).
* Women are able to send their children (especially female children) to school as a result of not needing children to help with water collection.
* Both health and hygiene improves across the community. Our wells provide families with on-going access to clean water which can be used for drinking, cooking, bathing, washing clothes, and feeding animals and chickens.
* The wastewater from the wells is used for home gardening. Food grown can support a family with extra being sold at the market.
* Common water related diseases are less likely to occur, these diseases especially deadly to children.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON HOW TO GET INVOLVED:
www.icbl.org, www.stopclustermunitions.org, www.uscbl.org, and www.landminesblow.org.
- Landmines Blow! water well project *photo by Alison Bock/Landmines Blow!
How can YOU make a difference? Join us in working with Alison Bock and Jose de Arteaga of Landmines Blow! This is a wonderful school project! PSALM students raise funds through school projects to sponsor a Landmines Blow! water well. We challenge other schools to join us!
Go to www.landminesblow.org
for more information on how your school or community group can be involved.