Always enthusiastic about finding out the effects of their successful – $10,000 raised – fall fundraiser, Global Empowerment and Outreach club (GEO) members flocked to advisor Carol Zink’s room in early March to take part in a live video chat with Lane Wood, a charity: water representative. Charity: water is a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing potable water to underdeveloped regions and Harker has developed a relationship with the group.

GEO members were told their contribution will fund the construction of a well in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Conversations with the local people about building the well have already begun, Wood reported. One of the most important steps before starting the project is education. The residents must first learn how to use the well for hygiene and how to maintain it – a process just as vital as the well’s construction.

Questions and answers flew back and forth via Skype, resulting in a very instructive and productive meeting. “It was great getting to know where the well is being built,” said Rashmi Sharma, Gr. 12, GEO’s public relations officer. “I’m excited to hear about a completed well in the future! It was amazing that we could get word much faster and clearer with Skype. Just through e-mails it would have been a pain to relay the same information – we got to ask questions and interact much more easily.” Wood assured GEO members that more updates would soon arrive regarding the development and eventual completion of the well.