Water is life, live healthy

Water is life, live healthy

SDG 17 Partnership for the goals is the key SDG that allows GVI to work towards the rest of 16 UN SDGs. For that reason, here in Phang Nga when a partner approaches GVI to fulfil its needs we put all our volunteers together to support them. In this occasion u18s, Conservation, Teaching and Healthcare volunteers on Base decorated reusable water bottles to contribute to SDG 3: Health and Well-being and SDG 6: Clean water and Sanitation. Keep reading and check out GVI Impacts & Ethics report for more info: https://www.gvi.co.uk/the-impact-ethics-report

The Partnership

We should all agree that Reusable water bottles are a great alternative to single use plastic but on top of that they also generate a sense of ownership. The Foundation for Education and Development (FED) has had a partnership with GVI for 2 years now. We have provided them with native English teachers through our TEFL program, helped them improve their facilities to provide a better environment for its students and delivered multiple English camps to facilitate integration of Burmese immigrants in Thailand thorough gaining language skills that will allow them to find decent work in the future. Ownership then might sound wrong after speaking of integration but these 250 reusable water bottles uniquely decorated by over 60 volunteers through the summer belong now to every individual student at FED. But why does that contribute to an SDG goal you might be asking yourselves?

The Issue

The healthcare team at FED had been looking forward to providing an alternative to students to their access to drinking water. The issue lied not in lack of drinkable water at the school, but in the receptacle the students used to drink it. FED has over 300 kids registered, all grades from Nursery and Kindergarten whose students tend to start around 4 years old, all the way to Grade 8, who are around 16 years old. Each of these classrooms have access to a tank of water but students in the same grade previously had to be share a single cup amongst all of them when they wanted the drink it. The cups were not washed between uses which, as you can imagine, compromises their health. Multiple pathogens being able to freely go from one kid to another. It was therefore vital that each students received their own, personal water bottle to drink from which is why the school approached GVI to help make and provide these for the students.

Since the new reusable water bottle initiative students have been able to fill their bottles and drink throughout the day without running the risk of transferring or contracting illness between their peers. All while using a beautifully decorated unique bottle, hand designed by the GVI Phang Nga team! We are very happy and proud to be able to provide constant support to our partners and see that they rely on GVI to get their goals achieved. So, thanks FED for your respect and trust towards GVI Phang Nga and it’s team! Water is life, live healthy.

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Posted: May 1, 2023

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