NCSHS stages walking fundraiser for Swazi reservoir

2014-11-20

A walking fundraiser for a west Swaziland reservoir project was recently staged in central Taiwan by students from National Changhua Senior High School.

The annual event, which involved participants walking 100-plus kilometers over five days near scenic Sun Moon Lake, raised more than NT$1 million (US$32,510). Since its launch in 2010, the Walk for Water initiative has achieved more than 75 percent of its NT$8 million funding goal.

NCSHS head librarian and event organizer Wu Hsin-chung said the fundraiser was solidly backed by the local business community, and also attracted the participation of Swaziland’s ambassador to the ROC, Thamie Dlamini, and Prince Benkhosi Dlamini.

The pair praised the 80 NCSHS students for their socially aware undertaking and also accepted a donation of US$10,000 from Taipei Wenlin Rotary Club.

According to Wu, the school first donated food, clothing and shoes during a visit several years ago by himself and students to the landlocked kingdom in southern Africa.

“Later on, we discovered that in one area we toured, residents had to walk three hours to get water,” he said. “We thought, perhaps we can help them by building a reservoir to sort out their water supply difficulties.”

Once completed, the 300 million liter reservoir is expected to significantly improve the standard of living for residents and spur economic development, Wu added.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=224192&CtNode=413)