Taipei Medical University (TMU) and Shih Chien University have provided potable water for schoolchildren in Battambang, Cambodia, assuring that their right to education would no longer be affected by water shortages.
The pro bono project was carried out by TMU’s Fly Young International service and Shih Chien’s Department of Architecture.
The project last year established a health center and a water tower filtration system for elementary schools in the Don Tri area to provide potable tap water.
This summer, the team worked with elementary schools in the Pou Pir area and established a water provision system larger than the one it set up in Don Tri.
Mon Vanna, dean of an elementary school in Pou Pir, said that before the water tower was built, students had to bring drinking water from home and the schools had to assign children to bring water from a nearby pond to clean the restrooms.
“It was not uncommon for children to say that they had to leave class to drink water,” Mon Vanna said.
Fly Young professor Kuo Hsiao-ching (郭曉靜) said that the universities adopted a “green architecture” concept, recycling used water and pumping it into the restrooms after filtering it.
“Mon Vanna gave us a big hug when he saw the water come out of the taps in the restroom,” Kuo said, adding that Mon Vanna said the improvements would greatly improve local sanitation and decrease the risk of sickness due to water-borne parasites.
Shih Chieh associate professor Chen Kuo-chou (陳國洲) said that since 2012, the department has also built eight classrooms, three multipurpose buildings, two lavatories and one residence in Siem Reap, as well as assisting in repairing three residences.
“The department started collaborating with TMU last year and we hope to impart the concept of water recycling to local children,” Chen said.
TMU student Wang Tzu-hao (王子豪) said he discovered that the residents usually store rainwater in large jars and bathe in rivers.
He took samples from water storage containers and would submit them for further analysis, Wang said, adding that he hopes to help solve issues for the residents through the findings.
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