The Learning Lab on our campus in Cincinnati helps students learn STEM skills while testing equipment for use in remote African villages.
Clean Water is Key to Life
During week two of the 2024 Lenten season, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur invite you to learn more about our work here in Cincinnati that impacts developing countries throughout Africa.
For the past five years, we have partnered with Engineers Without Borders to build a Learning Lab on our Mount Notre Dame campus. The purpose of the lab is to support African Project Engineer Louis Casey by testing and refining life-changing technologies and equipment used to bring electricity and clean water to places served by our Sisters in Africa.
PHASE ONE began five years ago. Funded by SNDdeN donors, engineers developed photovoltaic systems to convert the sun’s energy into electrical power. Solar energy is key to a sustainable system in these remote areas.
PHASE TWO was recently completed and uses the electrical power that is generated by the photovoltaic system to run equipment that filters and strains raw unpurified water. Easy access to water that is disease free allows people in Africa to spend time in school and working to provide for their families instead of traveling to a distant water hole each day.
AN ADDITIONAL BENEFIT of the Learning Lab is its use in building the science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills (STEM skills) of students in the area. Students will be able to run experiments in water treatment like the systems used in Africa. To date, students from Mount Notre Dame High School in Cincinnati and Chaminade Julienne Catholic High School in Dayton have participated in the Learning Lab’s operations and more are expected to use the lab starting after Easter.
Will you pray that the Learning Lab will be a blessing to children here and a catalyst for life across the globe? May we share with grateful and humble hearts the goodness of God through prayer, fasting and extending empathy this Lenten season.
“And Jesus said to them, ‘I assure you that whatever you do for one another, you do for Me.’” Matthew 25:40
Sister Ann Fanella, SNDdeN
Clean Water for Life Volunteer
P.S. If you'd like additional information about the Clean Water for Life project, don't hesitate to contact Karen Hadden at [email protected]rg or 513-679-8106.
PRAYER
O Lord, how grateful we are that you’ve inspired so many people of vision and know-how to reach out to Africans and Latin Americans held back by their lack of sustainable water and electricity. As we try to use these resources more carefully this Lent, help us to grow in prayerful awareness of people who so desperately need them. Amen.
Written by Sister Anne McDonald, SNDdeN