By Heather J. Carlson
Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN (USA)
DODGE CENTER -- It all started with a Dodge Center teenager's simple goal -- to raise money to build one toilet in a Cambodian village.
Two years later, Naomi Wente's idea has swelled into an international success story. She has helped raise funds to build four toilets and four wells in Cambodia and raised nearly $5,000. She has gained national attention, winning a U.S. State Department award for a Web site about her efforts. She recently traveled to the state Capitol to receive yet another award from the state's Department of Education.
"I didn't really think it would get to this point," said the Triton High School junior.
It all started in December 2005, when the then-14-year-old went to Cambodia with her family and a group of Rochester Community and Technical College students. While there, she began talking with young girls in the village. She soon discovered that many girls end up dropping out of school because of one simple thing -- not having a toilet.
Once girls begin menstruating, they are often too embarrassed to use the primitive public bathroom, which often is a simple hole in the ground. Going to the bathroom in a nearby forest brings with it the risks of landmines or kidnappings. So many girls opt simply to stop going to school.
To help change that, Wente teamed up with Kim Sin, whose family fled Cambodia during the violent Khmer Rouge's reign. Sin works with her mother, RCTC speech instructor Lori Halverson-Wente, to arrange yearly trips to Cambodia for students.
"I believed (Naomi) could do it, and that's why I was very supportive," Sin said.
Over the past two years, "One Toilet at a Time" has garnered major support in Cambodia. Wente's nonprofit has teamed up with a group called Youth Service Cambodia, comprised of college students in Cambodia. This group helps make sure all donations toward the project go to villages with a desperate need for toilets and wells. They also work with the villages to make sure they have a sense of ownership in the project, requiring them to raise $30 and to help with construction.
"One Toilet at a Time" has also won more local support, with Rochester's Bella Voce Young Women's Choir helping raise money for the project.
Wente's interest in global affairs does not appear to be waning. She plans to spend the first semester of her senior year studying in Mexico. Her advice for other youth who want to make a difference is simple.
"Never put a cap on what you think you can do," she said. "Come up with an idea and go all the way. Don't let anything stop you. Just do what you believe."
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Take a learning trip
Registration is going on at RCTC for a service learning trip to Cambodia from Dec. 27, 2008, to Jan. 11, 2009. For more information, call 285-7553 or e-mail lori.halverson@roch.edu.
Two years later, Naomi Wente's idea has swelled into an international success story. She has helped raise funds to build four toilets and four wells in Cambodia and raised nearly $5,000. She has gained national attention, winning a U.S. State Department award for a Web site about her efforts. She recently traveled to the state Capitol to receive yet another award from the state's Department of Education.
"I didn't really think it would get to this point," said the Triton High School junior.
It all started in December 2005, when the then-14-year-old went to Cambodia with her family and a group of Rochester Community and Technical College students. While there, she began talking with young girls in the village. She soon discovered that many girls end up dropping out of school because of one simple thing -- not having a toilet.
Once girls begin menstruating, they are often too embarrassed to use the primitive public bathroom, which often is a simple hole in the ground. Going to the bathroom in a nearby forest brings with it the risks of landmines or kidnappings. So many girls opt simply to stop going to school.
To help change that, Wente teamed up with Kim Sin, whose family fled Cambodia during the violent Khmer Rouge's reign. Sin works with her mother, RCTC speech instructor Lori Halverson-Wente, to arrange yearly trips to Cambodia for students.
"I believed (Naomi) could do it, and that's why I was very supportive," Sin said.
Over the past two years, "One Toilet at a Time" has garnered major support in Cambodia. Wente's nonprofit has teamed up with a group called Youth Service Cambodia, comprised of college students in Cambodia. This group helps make sure all donations toward the project go to villages with a desperate need for toilets and wells. They also work with the villages to make sure they have a sense of ownership in the project, requiring them to raise $30 and to help with construction.
"One Toilet at a Time" has also won more local support, with Rochester's Bella Voce Young Women's Choir helping raise money for the project.
Wente's interest in global affairs does not appear to be waning. She plans to spend the first semester of her senior year studying in Mexico. Her advice for other youth who want to make a difference is simple.
"Never put a cap on what you think you can do," she said. "Come up with an idea and go all the way. Don't let anything stop you. Just do what you believe."
-----
Take a learning trip
Registration is going on at RCTC for a service learning trip to Cambodia from Dec. 27, 2008, to Jan. 11, 2009. For more information, call 285-7553 or e-mail lori.halverson@roch.edu.
1 comment:
i think cambodia should make available public toilets in all towns and cities like in the USA. this way, where people go, they can use public toilet and plus that can create job for some people to earn a living by tending and cleaning toilets like in singapore, their public toilets are so clean because they always have attendant to take care of cleaning the toilet and people just pay like 25 cents or 100 riels to use it and to pay for attendants who keep them clean. thank you. so, maybe someone in cambodia can invest in public toilets in cambodia because somone got to keep them clean and everytime people use them they have to pay 100 or 200 riels for using it. this may solve the toilet problem in cambodia altogether.everybody uses toilet, so that will be a lot of profit in the toilet business all over cambodia. good idea, huh!
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