Visit USA received a heartwarming update at the start of the year about a project in Central America that is the beneficiary of money raised at the Association’s flagship summer event for members.
World Travel Market sponsored the drinks at Visit USA’s Summer Affair in London, and a fundraising raffle at the event raised funds for their chosen charity Just a Drop. The organisation improves drinking water and hygiene standards in communities around the world, including at Santa Isabel School, Nicaragua, a school in the north of the country attended by 28 children.
Brand-new facilities are now in use and are being enjoyed by children at the school.
“Thanks to the Visit USA community, Santa Isabel School is now thriving, and the impact of the project is clear,” said the Just a Drop report.
“We worked with teachers and the Parents’ Committee of Santa Isabel School throughout to support the sustainability of the project.”
The school’s 28 children and staff at the school now have proper, functioning latrines, resulting in higher levels of sanitation and hygiene.
A new hand-washing station encourages positive hygiene behaviours, which means children can attend school more regularly as they are no longer sick from poor hygiene. They also have increased access to privacy and dignity due to gender-segregated latrine blocks.
“Before work began, the school’s latrines were in such a state of disrepair that they were unusable. They were full of waste and likely to break at any moment, meaning that the children had nowhere to go to the toilet while at school,” said the Just-a-drop report.
“Thanks to Visit USA, the parents, students and teachers of Santa Isabel have been working hard with our partners in Nicaragua to change this situation by constructing two double-pit latrines so that the children can access sanitation at school.
“These were accompanied by a single pit latrine for teachers and a handwashing station.”
The report noted that The Parents’ Committee of Santa Isabel school, teachers, and students, are now well trained in maintenance and hygiene practices, adding: “Our partners will return monthly for the first year, and then at less frequent intervals, to monitor the operation and maintenance of the facilities. They will also carry out monitoring to collect data from Santa Isabel to ensure that the project is having the desired impact.”
