Review staff
It may not seem like much to the average person, but the students at Rimbey’s West Country Outreach School learned a valuable lesson over the course of the last number of months – that being that it doesn’t take a whole lot to make a big difference in people’s lives.
The students and staff of the school held a bit of a celebration last Thursday morning when they unveiled a plaque that was presented to them by Sopar - a combination of the words SOciety of PARtnership, for fully funding a fresh water well in the village of Pilligundla Thanda in the Andhra Pradesh region of India.
The most remarkable part is that the well, which carried a price tag of $750, was entirely funded by the students one or two recyclable bottles and cans at a time.
“Today we are celebrating the fact that the students of West Country Outreach School completed building a well in a small town in India,” said Principal Sheila Swier adding that the well will make life much, much easier for the village’s 200 people and is expected to last for at least 15 years.
According to Brielle Fisher, a teacher’s aide at the school, the idea was brought up by secretary Pat Sincennes who received a pamphlet in the mail regarding the dire need for fresh water wells in the impoverished region of India.
“She has a lot of things coming to her through the mail like Operation Christmas Child and other similar programs,” Fisher said of Sincennes. “She saw this and thought it was a really good idea. She showed it to myself and our other aide Susan Goodkey, and we thought it was an awesome. So we went with it. We thought it would be different for us to try.”
Fisher said the proposal was offered up to the students for debate and within no time, the campaign to raise the funds was well under way.
The exercise proved to be much more valuable to the students than they may have ever dreamt it would be, according to their principal.
“Once they got the information, they presented the proposal to the students who said yes, let’s go for it,” Swier said. “One of the things we try very, very hard to do with the kids is to promote citizenship and the idea that citizenship doesn’t happen just inside the four walls of our building or even in the community, there’s a larger community out there that they can make a difference in.”
Swier said most people tend to become overwhelmed and bogged down with wondering how they can make any sort of difference in a world that many believe has gone well beyond the point of no return when it comes to human suffering.
But as the students learned during the exercise that began last October and ended this May, every little bit helps – even if it’s simply collected recyclable containers, and it all adds up.
“As far as I understand, the information that was given to us is that these people had to walk an incredible amount of time and distance in order to get just one jug of fresh water, and it wasn’t even certain that it was fresh,” Fisher said. “With this well, it is helping 200 people and will last up to 15 years, which is awesome.”
Swier added that while the students may have made a concerted effort to raise the funds for the well, they still may not fully realize just how dramatically their efforts have changed the lives of so many – and may not for a while yet.
“For our kids – even though they’ve done this, for many I don’t think they understand the magnitude of what they’ve just accomplished,” she said. “They don’t see that big picture yet, so sometime down the road, hopefully they will. I think it’s really important within our own community, that people see that the kids at our school are trying to make positive decisions and make a difference.”
She said over the past few years there has been a bit of a stigma attached to the school and its students, but they’re hoping that efforts such as this will go a long way in changing people’s opinions of the school.
“We’re trying to move past that and when our kids make great decisions like this, it certainly helps,” Swier said. “We haven’t arrived yet, but I certainly believe we’re on our way. I’m really, really proud of what the kids have done.”
Fisher added that the campaign also received a bit of help from some businesses located near the school as well as the staff of the Community Centre where some of the school’s recycling bins are located.