How can water filtration devices – along with other strategies for independent, off-grid living – help communities that are not currently served by municipal water and electric services?
People who attend our workshop will learn how water filters are able to purify contaminated water into drinking water without the need for electricity. They will also learn about the global issue posed by the lack of clean drinking water in large parts of the planet. Because it is not a problem that affects any of us at the conference, we will try to give the problem meaning and importance by teaching the audience about many others who do suffer greatly from this. Lastly, they will learn about illnesses and diseases that affect those without clean water, such as diarrhea and nausea. The workshop will include a presentation about some general information about our project. For example, we will tell the audience how we came up with the idea of the project, some information on the contaminated water problem, the team’s goal and how to accomplish, why is this problem important, and how the audience can help out. The workshop itself will be a sort of competition that will be done in groups. The aim of the competition is to see who can create the best filtration device out of household materials that we will provide. A combination of three filters can be used, and an arrange of things such as cloth, wire mesh, and other materials to try and have the cleanest water. The water itself could contain a mixture of dirt, pebbles, dyes, etc so that it can test every aspect of the filter the audience has made.
The project is going to become sustainable because if the Red Cross does sponsor us, they would provide enough money and aids to both maintain our community in Arraijan, but also allow us to expand to other more remote areas. The filters themselves only need to be replaced about every 3 to 5 years, so they will not become a problem until a later date. Finally, we will use bake sales and activities in school to raise additional funds for anything else that is needed.
What initiatives can we take in order to alleviate water scarcity in our community and in Peru?
We will be engaging the students watching our presentation with an activity involving a hypothetical family situation. They will be asked to separate into “families” and will be provided with a set of materials which will represent the income of the family; apart from that they will be given a sheet of paper with their main needs as a family. The objective is for the participants to be able to spend their daily income efficiently and find themselves in a tough situation as a low-income family. At one specific point we will be incorporating an imaginary fog-catcher into the situation so that they can experience how a fog catcher can improve a humans life and reduce the amount of money spent on water.
The solution is sustainable because fog is a product of nature and will always be produced during cold weather. The fog catchers condense the water and collect it for the people to use. Lima, Peru has a lot of fog and a fog catcher is a proper way to collect water to grow crops and for other uses as well.
How will Compost help my school stay green? How can it be incorporated to our green community? How can it be done with the help of essential members?
Our lecture will inform attending students about how our group incorporated composting into our school. We will be able to demonstrate the steps of the process, including difficulties on the way.In addition, we as a group will show attending students how it benefitted our school, even including the steps of properly conducting a compost hole. The workshop will include activities and the group will be able to answer any sort of questions there are, to show that the chance to make any school greener, is possible.
Our compost plan consists of two steps, one being the composting taking place, whilst the other being of aid to the Green Club in our school. For the first part, our Cafeteria had been accumulating issues with garbage, in which we gave our assistance for their unwanted organic materials. This helped the Cafeteria save a massive amount of bags that they had been using for these unwanted organic materials.
The second part of our project lets us aid the Green Club while at the same time lets our own project progress. Our first compost hole is the head start of many compost holes to come, in order to aid the future garden projects. In addition to this, our compost has the ability to be used as a fertilizer, in which the Green Club can use to its benefit, without wasting the school’s capital. This natural fertilizer will be keeping chemical commercial fertilizers from harming our own community garden.
How can we at Lincoln do our part in helping contribute to fixing this global issue?
Our project doesn’t necessarily rely on fundraising events, but rather we instill change by invoking an attitude where we are more conscious about how we use our resources at Lincoln.
How can we help reduce food waste and educate our community on how to be more sustainable?
FERTILIFE is a PASB student initiative to reduce the amount of nutrient-rich food remnant thrown away at school by the creation of a compost, whose product would be used on school grounds. Our purpose is to promote urban composting as a viable solution to reduce food residue thrown away by transform it into an useful all organic and very potent fertilizer.
Our project is made sustainable since schools are constantly producing food waste within the preparation of meals and student self-servings. This waste would then be transformed back into our compost and help create organic fertilizers. These products would then be used to fertilize the school’s fields and other green areas, therefore discarding any additional chemical fertilizers that are known to have long-term side effects to the soil. Student awareness would also become sustainable through the creation of volunteer opportunities within the Middle and High school students and various awareness posters and campaigns throughout the school grounds. We also strongly encourage other schools and academies to create a compost of their own.
How can we improve the teaching of English in Sate schools near our school.
Our project will tackle the poor level of English education in “Lamenha Pequena”, a state school near ours. We believe that by teaching them English through games, they will be able to understand the basics of the language as well as encouraging them to pursuit the learning of the language when they get older. We also consider important to do our best to give our fellow students from the neighbor school a memorable and enjoyable experience.
We invite the kids to spend the day at our school, where we will teach them English through fun games that they already know in their native language.
What small measures can we take to ensure that education is a right, not a privilege?
We will discuss the RASA project at EARJ, that teaches English to over 50 kids from the Rocinha favela. A connection will be made to what is going on around the world regarding education, with a focus on what people can do to help educate their local communities.
RASA relies a lot on technology, and we are transitioning to being entirely paper-free.
How can we create sustainable energy?
We are going to present about our topic and ask the audience a few questions. Whenever someone gets the question right, they will receive a small prize (the special prize will be mini 3D-printed benches). A prototype of the bench will be taken and shown to the audience.
The project is sustainable in itself, it creates energy using a source that will not run out. We plan to continue making adjustments to the project and advertising the idea, which will bring more students and make the project last for a long time. Also, when an organization buys the bench, we will be able to build another one with the funds gathered.
How can the act of giving become a pleasurable experience for the underprivileged? “Throughout 2015, our GIN group of students at the International School of Curacao has been working on several different projects to help make our community a better place.
One of the most important projects we worked on this year was to provide the locally underprivileged children of our island, Curacao, with an opportunity to participate in an all-around shopping experience. To do this, we decided to organize a clothing drive.
Our goal was to mobilize our ISC school community to donate clothing, accessories, and shoes. Over the course of a month we collected the donated clothes, sorted them into different categories, based on both their size and gender. Finally, to simulate the “shopping experience”, we collaborated with Curacao Cares, a local organization that works to help our island, to help us find the needy orphanages and underprivileged families.
On May 30th 2015, we successfully hosted a ‘Clothes Store’ event which was attended by 13 local orphanages of Curacao; thanks to this event around 200 children from these orphanages are now enjoying a new wardrobe. This was an exciting experience for the children as they could shop (at no cost) and select their own clothes instead of just being handed donated clothes. All the children left with a bag full of clothes, accessories and a big smile on their faces.
On May 31st 2015, our ISC GIN led ‘Clothes drive’ project made an impactful contribution to the happiness of 200 children in our local community. The happiness on the faces of those children have inspired us to continue organizing a clothing drive at least once every year. We received very positive feedback from the local orphanages and the ISC community about the project. People are already contacting us about clothes that they wish to donate. Our goal is to also expand the project by helping local children gain access to other necessary materials, such as school supplies.
We also wish to help our local community with more genuine requests. For this reason, we will continue working with Curacao Cares, a local organization that works closely with the community of Curacao to help us identify the really needy and authentic requests.
Hands Helping Hands is an organization working to raise money and awareness in the fight against hunger and poverty. Students handcraft art pieces such as canvases, chairs, umbrellas, sculptures that are then auction at the hands helping hands annual Event. All proceeds go to an organization dedicated to serve those in need and the person who donated keeps the artwork made by hands helping other hands.
Every year we host a Hands Helping Hands event at Carol Morgan School. We have included the Arts department and the community as a whole throughout these years. As a result we created a partnership with Hogar del Niño who serves 1500 kids every day. Hands Helping Hands has become institutionalized at our school and we are grateful for the support from the school, the community and our sponsors.
This workshop will focus on the importance of the student-teacher connection and the accessibility to education. Through funding the construction of teacher housing in Namphungo, Malawi, teachers will be able to get to the schools they work at. They will not be discouraged by the distance between their homes and workplaces and would not need to travel long distances daily in order to teach. As a result of this project, the increase of accessibility to education allows for the teachers to improve their relationships with their students. According to UNESCO, the student-teacher ratio in Malawi is 100:1 and providing teacher housing would allow for more teachers to teach, thus, lowering the ratio. We are supporting an environment that both the students and teachers deserve to have in order to encourage development and better education. The purpose of this workshop is to inform others how important it is to ensure the accessibility to education for all. By bridging the gap between student and teacher, it allows them to build a connection between one another and to provide deserved education for all.
Even though the building of the teacher houses is taking place far away from where we are, we will not let the distance interfere with the sustainability of our project. We will have frequent skype sessions with Mr. Mavuto Kachingwe, a school principal in Namphungo, Malawi, in order to stay connected to the people in the village. As such, we would directly be informed about the process of the construction and what the primary necessities of the students and teachers are. Furthermore, through the website of Village X, the NGO we are collaborating with in the teacher housing project, we will be notified of the progress of the construction. These updates help us stay engaged with our project in Namphungo. After the finalization of the building, we plan on further aiding the school by providing resources, such as textbooks, notebooks, and stationery.
What small steps can we take to reduce our waste?
The hands-on workshop is designed to teach people how to easily build their own composting system (small enough for apartment) that can be cared for once a week. It will start with a video tutorial. Next, students will work in teams to build a model that they can use. Last, students will watch a short video and reflect on the small actions they can take to reduce waste.
The project can be made out of materials found around most houses. It will produce soil that can be used in plants and gardens.
How to improve the home environment and promote the self-sufficiency of Brazilian families with children suffering from chronic disease and extreme poverty?
We are a branch of a Brazilian NGO, Saúde Criança, which has developed a pioneering methodology that improves the home environment and promotes the self-sufficiency of Brazilian families with children suffering from chronic diseases and poverty. To address these complex problems Saúde Criança uses a multidisciplinary and integrated approach by focusing on five factors crucial for the family’s well-being: health, housing, citizenship, income and education. Saúde Criança fights for social inclusion by promoting human development. In order to help this NGO, this year we are focusing on the Calendar Project, we are going to the hospital to take pictures of the children and construct a calendar with them. The calendar will be sold at different school events, and all the profit will go to the NGO. The idea is not only to fundraise, we wanted to do something different for the kids, to get them out of the hospital routine. We will attempt to portray our models in the happiest way possible.