By Mark Robert Benson Baldo

MAKATI, Philippines – Students from a high school in the Philippines have helped launch a sanitation program meant to help them stay healthy and in school.

A pilot school for new sanitation initiatives, the Makati Science High School received sanitation kits for all of its students and a refilling center. The program was funded by a group of organizations led by CityNet, a network of Asia-Pacific municipalities that manages human settlement. The group also included the Philippines division of Unilever, the soap manufacturer.

By Long Nguyen and Thuy Nguyen

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam – “Be good, or you won't receive any presents,” Christian parents warn their excited children as Christmas nears. But before stepping into a new year in Vietnam, this advice is given to everyone, kids and adults.

According to legend, a woman and two men who were in a painful threesome affair leaped into a flaming cooking fire. They became the genies known in Vietnamese as Táo; their statues, displayed prominently in every household’s kitchen, are believed to guard the kitchen and the happiness of every family.

By Thuy Nguyen

HO CHI MINH CTY, Vietnam – This past summer, teenagers in Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam, flocked to join the Red Flamboyant Campaign (RFC), a volunteer organization of high schoolers whose goal is to work for the good of the community.

“I think all students in Ho Chi Minh City have heard of it,” said Kim Anh, an 18-year-old graduate of Tran Phu High School. The RFC is directed by the Youth Union Central, a popular Vietnamese youth organization, and was named after a kind of flower representative of education in Vietnam. With 12,000 teachers and students joining in one month, the RFC is indeed expanding rapidly, as Anh suggests.

REPORTERS
BULGARIA
Deyan Dragiev

CAMEROON
Masango Sone

CANADA
Daniella Sochaczevski

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Kenza Moller

IRELAND
David McHugh, David McGuinness

OMAN
Ans Khurram, Fatima Tuz Zehra

PHILIPPINES
Makati Science High School: Mark Robert Benson Baldo, Paula Bianca Etaoc Amil, Inez Margarita Diestro Montenegro, Thea Cecilia Fabian Suico, Ian Christopher Omambac Tisang, Ma Rhenee Maye Sayson Renido, Jessica Monajan Elorde, Rojane Meca Melendres, John Edward Dominique Dela Paz Dalida, Maricar Dizon Llamzon, Abegail Valderama Dapito, Sarah Jane Villaluz Soriano, John Vincent Maik Solis, Lira Borin Habana, Serfederic Azarcon Cellona,  Rhom Justin Garcia Dela Rosa, Jasmin Martinez Garcia, Katrisha Angelica Decipeda Encarnacion, Ma Arselene Jamalin Aquino, Carlo Jason Nograles Opeña, Marniel Leslee Aquino Galedo, Sandi Valdez Vinluan, Rafael Alfred Costuna Montalvo, Venus Riparip Casabon, Michael Dominique Zabala Padlan, Jan Erika Sinchioco Basilio, Joven Borja Falcon, Katrina Flor Alburo Pantilla, Angeline Dadiro Ronas

PAKISTAN
Sultan Mehmood, Ruqaiya Khan

PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
Mahmoud Jabari

REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Brian Son

ROMANIA
Grosu Luciana 

UK
Louise Caney, Lorna Nickson-Brown             


US
Jennifer Bastidas, Ian Ryan, Alannah Abrams, Angela Lee, Alex Katz, Jenny Pilecki, Isabel Shaw, Kelly Speca, Greta Stacy, Tony Cheng, Maria Cury, Megan Walsh
CSI High School for International Studies: Heather Vale, Ann Morrin Youssef, Dominique Johnson, Anam Baig, Ashley Aydin, Desirae Clodfelter, Kasey Fausak, Sam Murphy, Teresa Konopka, Justin Lefkowitz, Jackie Mallozi, Sarah Berfond, Liana Inzerillo, Margaret Scalesi, Emily Marks, Samantha Goodman, Rachel Geissler, Marissa Mule, Veronica Geager, Jeremy Smith
Durham Academy: Leslie Ogden, Betsy Keene, Anna Cooperberg, Mary Sketch, Collin Burke, Louisa Mounsey

UZBEKISTAN
Qakhramon Davronovich, Shakhboz Ibragimov, Maftuna Ibragimova, Diana Mustafaeva, Yaroslav Ovcharenko, Guzal Mustafina,

VIETNAM
Thanh Le, Long Nguyen, Thuy Nguyen, Minh Pham