Ngariawang Primary School in Leron-Wantoat local level government, Markham District, Morobe Province, has commemorated World Water Day for the first time.
Ngariawang is a level four school with 386 students and is one of the 15 selected schools in Markham that comes under the Water for Women Markham water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) project implemented by the World Vision.
Students, parents and the surrounding communities participated to mark the global event with the theme: “Ground water: Making the invisible visible”.
The World Vision team, who was part of the commemoration, created and practically demonstrated to students and the communities ways to go about water, sanitation and hygiene, which included open defecation free program, hand washing and extraction of invisible underground water to make it visible.
Ngariawang Primary School head teacher Augustine Linny said the WaSH awareness program brought to his school and the communities by World Vision will have a positive impact, especially on students, as they have learnt a handful of things and will bring that knowledge back to their villages.
This open day has shown a lot of good things about WaSH which will help less fortunate parents, who can’t afford to purchase WaSH equipment, now use bush materials such as bamboo to store water and practise sanitation and hygiene which save costs.
Mr Linny
World Vision WaSH Project Manager, Evelyn Mikasimo said they (World Vision) chose the primary school to host World Water Day because they want students to demonstrate their learning and understanding around WaSH.
Students also received awards for best drawings and written poems based on this years’ theme for World Water Day which encourages them to practise WaSH daily and make it a habit.