As an initial project, “Project W, Water for Education” has partnered with Rotary Keilor East, Rotary Passport Melbourne (RPM), Disaster Aid Australia, and Cambodia Rural Students Trust (CRST), an NGO in Siem Reap, to install Australian-made SkyHydrant filtration systems in four rural schools.
At an average cost of $5,000 per school (or around $0.35 per year), clean water can be provided to the whole school population.
More than half of the 90 schools in the Siem Reap area do not have access to clean drinking water which means that students who are at school all day are either not drinking water or are buying bottled drinks which contributes to the problem of single-use plastic waste in Cambodia where recycling is not in operation.
Project W – Water for Education is focused on providing safe drinking water to rural schools in Siem Reap province, Cambodia. The project will see 40,000 rural students and teachers, as well as 20,000 families living in these rural communities, finally have access to clean, safe drinking water.
Implemented by the students of Cambodia Rural Students Trust (CRST), a non-government organisation established in 2011, CRST has a reputation for bringing life changing programs to rural communities. Project W is on track to do the same. CRST is unique for a few key reasons: in Cambodia the NGO is managed exclusively by university students, with daily mentoring by the founders in Melbourne – RPM members Jessica Palti and Aviv Palti.
This outstanding project will provide students with safe, filtered drinking water, they will be able to refill their drink bottles and therefore create a sustainable impact on their health, education, and the environment.
Jessica Palti
Public Relations Chair
Rotary Melbourne Passport