GCH and St. Paul's Address Water Shortage in Darjeeling, India

Giving Children Hope raises money for water storage tank to remedy shortage

Located in Darjeeling, India and deemed the “highest public school in the world” because of its setting 7500 feet above sea level, St. Paul’s School was founded in 1823 as a premier all-boys boarding school. The prestigious Bengali school caters to a student body of 725 with the purpose of instilling in students a sense of duty to self, others, and God. It is renowned for its cosmopolitan character – drawing students from different countries, castes, and religions, who come together to live and learn.

Unfortunately for the hundreds of students who board at St. Paul’s year round, the school suffers a major water shortage. Like the rest of the city, the school is dependent on a water system that was installed in the 1920s. The system has never been rehabilitated to respond to the city’s growing population, leaving students at St. Paul’s with only 2 hours of running water a day.

St. Paul’s alumni associations (Old Paulites) in the United States, England, and India have partnered with Giving Children Hope to remedy this shortage. $80,000 is currently being raised to build a storage tank that will collect water off of rooftops, pump it into a water treatment system, and then channel the treated water into the school. With this new tank, boarding students will have running water for six hours a day instead of two. The tank will also benefit the city as a whole by reducing the school’s demand for water from the inadequate and under resourced water system.

Following the completion of the school’s storage tank, St. Paul alums will address the needs of other parts of the city with the construction of several other tanks.