A pinch of salt. A fistful of sugar. A liter of water.

Diarrhea claims 1.5 million kids annually — more than AIDS, malaria and measles combined — and the United Nations has projected the number of deaths will rise by 10 percent each year over the next decade. It's not actually the diarrhea that kills, but the resulting dehydration. A simple but effective way to prevent and treat dehydration is to administer ORS (Oral Rehydration Solution) using recipe developed by the World Heath Organization.

The recipe

1 liter of safe water

8 teaspoons of sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

Students at Century High School  have donated their time to make up 100 water bottles containing one pre-packaged dose of salt and sugar tucked inside, and the instructions  for mixing and administering as well as the recipe is   laminated on the outside.   We will be distrubuting these potentially life saving ORS kits to the teachers and mothers at Rock of Ages pre-school, as well as teaching them  signs and symptoms of diarrhea and how to treat it. 

School children in Bangladesh are taught to remember the life saving recipe, by reciting "A pinch of salt. A fistful of sugar. A liter of water." It works.

Many thanks to the wonderful students at Century!