Clean Water, WASH & Nutrition for 500 Muslim Girls

Doctors across the planet emphasize that washing hands briskly with soap and water is the best deterrent to the Covind-19 virus. With your support, Asia America Initiative continues to help build clean and simple but effective water systems in impoverished communities. Our school-based WASH facilities in the Philippines include soap, toothpaste, and other hygiene products which especially help girls  health to improve. New water systems also helps the expansion of school-based gardens to provide fresh foods and lunches cooked by volunteer mothers and grandmothers. With improved water delivery at each school, and access to school lunches, girls experience improved overall well-being and stronger immune systems to fight all infections and illnesses. In addition, better health provides children the energy to attend more days in school with better classroom performance.

"AAI's support to our school children may seem small but are essential." states Dr. Aybee,  Director of the Planning Office in the Sulu Province Department of Education. " AAI has donated soaps,bleach, spray bottles and paper towels to protect all children from the virus and they also protect us school teachers and health service providers. Sharing is caring and AAI cares for their extended family."

Due to the Covid19 Virus pandemic, the capital, Manila, and most of the country's 7,000 islands are "locked down."  AAI is among the relatively few organizations able to provide support in these areas. "We were fortunate to have a large donated shipment of food, clean water, and medical supplies, including sterilized gloves, face masks, and anti-bacterial soaps and sprays ready to ship in January and February. 

We are being proactive with more than 20 years of emergency relief experience. Our ongoing relief for typhoon survivors funded by GlobalGiving donors has enabled us to pre-position supplies from abroad and purchase essential goods from local markets. To maintain our inter-cultural focus, we are also donating food and hygiene supplies to child feeding programs in the Washington, DC - Northern Virginia area. 

Your support is critical as the virus spreads and medical personnel, equipment, and supplies are in short supply. We rapidly sendsupplies to our communities as soon we acquire them. Your donations allow us to provide resources to our AAI team members to purchase locally in their communities.

Our mission is to stabilize the medical and social systems of impacted communities. Our strength is in our partnerships with local, national and international organizations.  Your donations especially matter to keep our network in place in order to be able to respond to events as they happen.  Thank you for all you have done to help this cause.  Please continue to remember us during the current global crisis.

Wishing you peace and wellness,

Al Santoli, Director,

Asia America Initiative

Links:

• Asia America Initiative website

School gardens which supplement daily meals for children in impoverished homes are essential for good nutrition. In the Philippines, religious conflict and natural disasters have caused suffering for millions of Filipino children. This program benefits schools in regions where children are victims of natural and man-made disasters. 

Our "One School/One Family" partnership program assists children in Asia America Initiative supported elementary schools in Sulu and Visayas regions. We fight extreme poverty and communal violence through integrated literacy, livelihood skills, and health support.  Asia America Initiative provides thousands of books, school supplies, garden tools, and clean water systems supported by ordinary people in the US, the Philippines and around the world through Global Giving. 

Students return for the new school year in June and begin to plant their new school gardens in elementary and high schools. These gardens provide vegetables for the communal meal they will all share, cooked by mothers and other school volunteers. Students, teachers, and community members band together to clear the garden area, prepare the soil and plant new seeds. The gardens are then well-tended by students and harvested as the vegetables become ripe. As the school year progresses, everyone in the school lends a hand. The garden will continue to supplement their meals throughout the school year and in the end, many seeds will be harvested and dried for the next school year. 

Principal Merhama of Salih Yusah, an urban elementary school, speaks for mostschool heads, "We are very grateful for the kindness from outside donors. We are also thankful for having supportive parent-stakeholders who provide us fence wire for the school perimeter. With that effort our plants won't be eaten by the animals who live in the surrounding forests."

If you would like to continue to make a difference to these communities in 2020, please click through the project report and select the orange Donate Now button. With your help, we can continue to support school gardens which are so important to students' well-being. (If you are interested in a monthly donation, GlobalGiving is even offering a 100% match!)

Clean Water, WASH & Nutrition for 500 Muslim Girls

Thank you so much for your past contribution. 

I wish you peace throughout the holiday season and in the new year.

Albert Santoli

Asia America Initiative

Links:

• Asia America Initiative website