Young volunteers from around the world participated in a Global Peacemaker Camp from January 6-10 to carry out the “Dream Water Project,” distributing water tanks to villages affected by recent earthquakes in Nepal. The international group not only provided a much needed emergency service, but also ongoing aid in the form of education on sanitation, hygiene and moral and innovative leadership to help locals continue fostering a healthy community.

Partner Service for Peace helps provide water tanks to villages in Nepal

The education component of the project was made possible thanks to a meeting held in September 2017, where women leaders in Sunaulobazar Dhading brought to light pressing issues like economic stability, mental and physical health, and women’s representation in leadership. This inspired the creation of the Global Peace Women Education Center in October, providing a space for families to receive accessible education.

Women create homemade sanitary napkins out of cloth

Dream Water volunteers led a sanitation and hygiene education workshop for more than 100 women in Khari and Khalte. Women in the villages perform hard labor like farming and other essential duties to maintain their families’ household. Due to tradition, women in these rural areas are isolated during menstruation. Women have described the experience as “silent suffering,” expected to work even harder outside their homes without proper rest or nourishment.  Many women have expressed that they felt very weak and experienced long-term health problems from this lifestyle.

The Education Center hosted regular training sessions throughout January, demonstrating how to create and use homemade cloth sanitary napkins for girls and women, many of whom were students at nearby high schools.

The role women play in healthy families and communities is essential to creating healthy societies. Education provided through projects like Dream Water is an important component of raising leaders that can uplift members of their own families as building blocks of strong communities.

The Dream Water Project was made possible by volunteers with Service for Peace and the women’s division of Global Peace Foundation.