Verde Valley School students have joined a worldwide effort to eradicate extreme poverty and provide relief to millions suffering from AIDS and malaria, thanks to a generous contribution by Sedona residents Steve and Anita Dawson.  The students have formed a committee to implement the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDG) adopted by the U.N. in September 2002. These eight goals (ranging from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015) form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions.

“We were really moved to get involved at some level after learning about the U.N.’s resolution to help eliminate poverty and illness around the world. And when we discovered that Verde Valley School’s mission is so well aligned with the Millennium Development Goals, we thought it a perfect fit to help fund a committee at the school,” says Steve Dawson who adds, “We’re excited that the kids are learning that they can be involved, and that they can make a difference.”

“This project is something that I am really passionate about,” says Daniel Dudley, VVS math teacher and chair of the school’s MDG committee. The VVS students have done a lot of research since they formed the committee last year in order to help understand the issues, and as a result, they have selected Malawi as the country on which they’ll focus their efforts. “They believe they can make a measurable difference towards reaching their goals in this very poor country,” says Dudley who adds that he hopes to go to Malawi this spring with ten VVS students to bring medication, nets, and do community service projects.

The VVS students are also supporting Product Red which funds AIDS programs in Africa. Product Red was created by Bono and Bobby Shriver to help raise money for AIDS medication for women in Africa. Its model has been adopted by some of the world’s leading companies and is based on a simple strategy: when consumers buy a Red Product or sign up for a Red Service, at no cost to themselves, the “Red” company will donate a portion of its profits to buy and distribute anti-retrovirus medicine for those AIDS patients in Africa.  Product Red is the corporate response to the MDG. Recently, VVS students held a raffle with a Product Red iPod Nano as the main prize. The raffle raised more than $700. The students also held a silent auction on Parents’ Weekend and raised more than $900 for mosquito nets for a health clinic in Malawi.

In addition, they’re donating the proceeds of the sale of T-shirts they’ve designed to fund an irrigation scheme in a Malawan village. “In their research the students learned that just building a ditch was enough to reduce malaria by 60 percent in one village in Kenya,” explains Dudley who adds, “Anyone who has had malaria knows how serious it is.  My father-in-law died of it and my daughter had it when she was a little over a year old. She was in the hospital for three days.” Dudley has also had it a number of times and says “It’s no picnic!”

In the near future, the VVS students will be meeting with NAU students who are involved in building a solar powered irrigation system in Ghana. The VVS kids plan to learn more about applying something similar in Malawi. Ultimately, the students hope to put solar panels and lights in at least one building in each “sub-village” (collection of houses, usually relatives) so that children can have a lighted place to study in the evenings.  “This is a great way to have an immediate impact in many homes,” explains Dan.

Dan believes taking students to Malawi is important. He explains: “Many of the people that are so passionate about global poverty are so because they have seen it first hand. I think that I fall into this category.  If we can give the sense to these students that their efforts can make a difference, they will hopefully take this experience with them in the future and try to do similar things perhaps at their college or workplaces.”

Ham and Babs Warren founded Verde Valley School in 1948 because they wanted to establish a high school that would, among other things, foster intercultural understanding and world citizenship.  Fifty years later their dream continues to inspire the students at VVS.

Verde Valley School is an independent, college preparatory boarding and day school founded in Sedona in 1948.  The school’s challenging program fosters academic excellence and global citizenship. Its graduates have been accepted to prestigious colleges and universities world wide.