Kenya Water Project - (Students improving lives through our most basic resource)
Lack of clean, potable water is a serious problem for the people of Kayafungo, Kenya. Women and children walk up to six miles to collect water from pits that fill with rain. Schools close early to give the students time to collect water before going home. Water from the pits is brown and filled with visible living organisms. The local population suffers from many waterborne diseases because of the lack of clean water.

The Student Movement for Real Change is implementing a water and sanitation project in Kayafungo, a Giriama region 52km northwest of Mombasa. The Student Movement will extend pipelines by approximately 15km across one of the most arid regions in Kenya, thereby bringing fresh clean water to 36,000 people, multiple schools, and a health clinic. In addition,SMRC will work with the community to increase latrine coverage by 25% and conduct health and hygiene workshops to improve sanitation and decrease the spread of disease.

Benefits:
Reduced exposure to waterborne diseases
Access to clean water for domestic use
Increased latrine coverage
Lower infant mortality rate
Health and sanitation training workshops
Women''s empowerment through project management
Decreased walking distance for women each day

Our Partners:
Engineers Without Borders: WSU
Kayafungo Women Water Project
Coast Water Services Board of Kenya
Muthaa Community Development Fund

Mashlati Primary School
After fundraising for classrooms and libraries at two schools in rural South Africa, the Student Movement is interested in engaging in a new and innovative approach to advance education and social change in Mpumalanga, South Africa. With sufficient classrooms for students to learn inside, rather than under trees, the Student Movement believes that investment into extracurricular activities is critical for youth development.

SMRC plans to facilitate the development of high quality sports fields at two schools in the Manyeleti Community of Mpumulanga. This project will directly impact the entire community, although the sites identified for field construction include high school grounds. Special fencing will surround the field, with local community monitors that would allow access to the entire community. This project is set to directly impact more than 3,000 students and community members.

The fields will also include a storage facility and stands for fans to watch games. The funding for the project would be combined with a comprehensive education component to inform the community of HIV/AIDS and other health issues, as well as provide a venue for the local sports leagues to host tournaments.

Joining Hands Pen-Pal Project
The Student Movement for Real Change works to connect young people around the world.  Personal relationships are imperative to understanding and awareness.

The Joining Hands Pen-Pal Project (JHPP) seeks to link South African and Kenyan students with American students through a letter-writing, pen-pal program.  It also hopes to inspire personal responsibility and leadership by involving local college students in tutoring of youth.

SMRC believes that through the empowerment of youth around the world, developing communities worldwide will begin to enjoy opportunities once believed impossible.  This generation of young people has the capacity to communicate with nearly anyone in the world with little effort.  SMRC hopes to facilitate that communication.

Three Components

Part 1 – Writing Letters. U.S. elementary and middle school students and South African or Kenyan primary school students are paired as pen pals.  SMRC members from university chapters will identify local elementary or middle schools and propose the project to interested principals and teachers.  Partner schools will be found in South Africa of Kenya (for US schools) or the US (for SA or Kenyan schools).  Students will write letters to students at their partner schools about relevant cultural issues. U.S. elementary and middle schools not located nearby college campuses write and sent letters directly to the national SMRC office. 

Part 2 – Tutoring. SMRC members “adopt” elementary/ middle/ high schools or primary schools they are working with and develop a relationship by means of tutoring students and visiting the school one or two times per week.  Though it will only be possible for students to write letters about once a month (because of travel time), SMRC members will still go to their adopted schools at least once a week to educate, tutor, and mentor. 

Part 3 – Fundraising. U.S. college SMRC members fundraise for partner schools in South Africa. U.S. SMRC members will make a pledge to their partner school to raise a certain amount of money, $5 for example, for every letter that is written. All money will go directly to the partner schools in Africa.
     
Student Movement establishes a working relationship with teachers, principals, and schools interested in pursuing the Joining Hands project.  We are confident that this project will be a success and are excited about the limitless transfer of ideas and global communication.

 
Ten Dollar Campaign
Are you aware that today there are hundreds of students fundraising to build schools in rural South Africa for kids who lack not only desks and chairs, but often classrooms at all? Well if the idea of adopting a student and making his or her education possible sounds appealing to you, then you are going to want to get involved with Student Movement for Real Change.

This unique organization is working to bring issues from neglected regions of the world to the attention of America’s students, to increase understanding and to take action. This rare organization makes it possible for each student to directly impact the lives of literally thousands of students in Africa and other parts of the globe.