Little School Makes Huge Impact

We have an amazing story to share with you. It's a story of generosity, creativity, and the impact a group of people can make in the fight against extreme poverty.

In this case, this group is a school in Taiwan called Morrison Academy Kaohsiung (MAK). They recently joined One Day's Wages as a partner school and started a campaign to raise awareness and funds for ODW's project with a child's right to help bring clean water to 13142 kids and 410 staff in Cambodia.

MAK, a "little school" of 190 elementary and middle school students had a very ambitious goal of raising $10,000 for our Cambodia water projects.

How much did they raise?

In total, they raised $21,350. Amazing.

How did less than 200 students raise $21,350?

The school organized a school-wide walk-a-thon, where all the kids ran around the track holding water bottles to simulate the experience of having to walk in order to even have water to drink. They were sponsored by family and friends per lap. Some classes sold Christmas candy-grams, some classes hosted movies/popcorn at lunchtime, some 4th graders put together a proposal to sell drinks. All the proceeds went towards the project.

Parents rallied and put on a bake sale at the Christmas concert, as well as join their kids for the walk-a-thon and supporting their efforts.  

What did some of the students learn and share?

"I learned that if people don't have clean water to drink they can die from a disease. So water is very important to them and to us. We don't want to just care about ourselves. We also need to care about them."

"I learned that we have to save water. And I liked it when we ran because I like to run. But whenever I passed one lap I felt very happy. Even though the money is not for us, I still felt very happy. And if we run more, then more people we can save. But whenever I got tired I thought about the people that didn't have water and then I would run as fast as I could. After that I got lots of money for other people. I had a lot of fun with the water project."

"This water project is really wonderful. Now they can have clean water that is nearby. When we were going around the track I kinda felt bad and knew what it feels like to have to walk a long way with water. Their jugs must be way bigger than the ones we carried. They might have to walk up onto a high mountain. Steep hills. It was so hard, sweat was going down other people's faces."

"I learned that we have water but some people don't. They drink dirty water that has bacteria. On the day of the walkathon I was tired but I knew that the more I ran the more people would give me money to give to the 2 schools in Cambodia. Then suddenly I stopped. I was too tired but I knew I needed to go on. Then Mr. Choi (the school principal) said "last lap." I had ran 13 laps! I was proud. I was glad to help."

Thank you to the MAK students, teachers, and community!

ODW wants to sincerely thank the entire community of MAK - students, teachers, and parents. We especially want to thank Principal Gabe Choi and Ms. Cindy Brandt for helping spearhead the vision to partner with ODW. We are truly amazed by the generosity of the community and inspired by how your "little" school of less than 200 students have done such a "great" thing that will have an impact on thousands and thousands of children, giving them a chance at the kind of hope and dreams our kids have.

Are you interested?

If your school, church, company, or group desire to partner with ODW, contact us (office@onedayswages.org) or you can create your own group campaign page in 5 minutes. We'd love to partner with you in the movement to create a more compassionate and just world. Together, we believe we can make a dramatic impact in the fight against extreme poverty.

Pictures: Mixed photos from a child's right projects in Cambodia and campaign pictures of students from MAK. The water projects in Cambodia will commence near April and we'll report to both MAK and our larger ODW donors about the impact of your collective generosity.