Father and daughter raise money for aqueduct

There are millions of people around the world who are deprived of the basic life necessities that most people have. Stillwater Area High School students could potentially change the lives of many citizens in the small village of Amiama Gomez, formerly known as Biafara, located in the Azua province in the Dominican Republic. Senior Ana Souffront and her father Miguel Souffront are planning a fundraiser throughout the district to raise money to build an aqueduct in Amiama Gomez. An aqueduct would provide fresh and clean water through a new communal spigot for the 4,576 citizens.

The Souffronts have contacted several of the clubs and organizations at SAHS, including the National Honor Society.

“NHS plans to help raise awareness of the situation that is the basic necessity of clean water,” NHS president senior Jonathan Luk said. Some fundraising opportunities will start being held during Valentine’s Blast Week. NHS is also planning on donating all of the proceeds from the Spring coffeehouse along with other various fundraisers to help raise money for the aqueduct.

Having this new supply of water would tremendously increase the quality of life for these villagers. The aqueduct would provide another source of water that will increase the capacity of the existing water reservoir and supply the community with cleaner water to cover their basic necessities. Increasing the capacity of the existing water reservoir will also help prevent water borne illnesses and injuries from carrying buckets of water on their heads.

The purpose of this plan is not to provide clean, portable water, but to provide a plentiful supply of cleaner water for the villagers. There is a large difference between the water quality in Stillwater and the water quality in Amiama Gomez.

“Here we have an endless source of water that we can access at anytime of day and for however long we like and we can trust that the water we are consuming and cleaning with is clean,” Ana said. “The water in Amiama Gomez is not clean and must be boiled and even after it is boiled it can still contain large amounts of harmful bacteria.” 

The goal of this fundraising is to not only raise money for an aqueduct, but also to get students involved in making a difference in the lives of others.“I hope that the students at Stillwater High School and the people that donate feel proud by helping a community in need of the precious liquid we get here 24 hours a day and 7 days a week and take for granted.  I also hope that with this small contribution to build this aqueduct, the students of SAHS feel really proud of eradicating water borne diseases in the community of Amiama Gomez,” Miguel said.

Hopefully, by raising money to support building this aqueduct, it will raise awareness about this issue that is a burden on many countries around the world.

Miguel said, “I also hope that with this fundraising the student body of SAHS feel so proud to help a community in need by engaging and at least trying to be aware and understand some of the difficulties facing many communities around the globe.”