Just
turn on the tap and bingo – fresh water, the kind that drips cold from the
glass and drains in one long swig, a drop trickles down your chin. Or that
chilled bottle, plucked from the cooler at a sporting event on a hot afternoon;
frosty condensation moistens your palm while soothing wet fills your
mouth. Slug it down. Yeah. Water. Most of us might pay dearly for it, but its
available, easily accessible and clean – very clean.
So,
you might ask – “What about water?”
Globally
speaking, here are the facts:
- 70% of the earth is water but less than 1% is drinkable.345 million people are without water access.
- 780 million people are without access to potable water. (That’s more than twice the population of USA.)
- 3.4 million people die yearly from water borne disease. (That’s about the entire size of Los Angeles.)
- Lack of access to clean water and sanitation kills children at a rate equivalent of a jumbo jet crashing every four hours.
- The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.
- An average American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than the average person in a developing country slum uses for an entire day.
- More people have a mobile phone than regular access to safe drinking water.
- Women and children use billions of hours collectively hauling water and finding fuel to use for boiling, valuable time that keeps them from school and income-generating work. This daily chore takes them into unsafe environments, making them vulnerable to assault. Even after the water is collected, precious energy is used to try and make it clean – sometimes the dirty water must be consumed as is, resulting in life-threatening diseases.
(Information
collected from WHO, UNICEF, ITU, UNFPA, UNDP.)
What can be done?
Realize that access
to safe water can stop the poverty cycle.
By providing a means for potable water to be easily accessed eliminates
the potential barriers to development – barriers like continuous illness, lack
of opportunity, lost education and wasted time.
Access to safe water, introduced through the gospel message gives those
living in poverty a chance to embrace a spiritual journey that changes their
worldview from fatalism to divine destiny.
How can this be done?
1. Sharing the
love of God through Jesus Christ by building relationships that treat others
with redeemable providence.
2. Building and distributing low cost, effective
bio=sand water filters, which remove 99.9% of pathogens that cause sickness.
Our two step
goal may not provide the water, but our DIGGS program enables mamas to earn
enough income to purchase unclean water at 2 ksh (about 5 cents) per liter. With the biosand filter, they can purify their water and the expense of
fuel for boiling is eliminated; plus, time spent preparing to clean the water
is saved.
View our first
biosand water filter team building day…
Materials delivered for construction.
Lessons.
Cleaning materials through sifting.
And more sifting.
Seperating course sand from the fine - both will be used.
.
Washing the gravel chips.
Heavy work, but the mamas will say, "access to clean water is worth it."
The children help.
Their "short term assistance" turns to play.
Carolyne gets to use real tools, a novelty for many here, especially women.
Securing the spout.
A prayer that it all holds before the cement pour.
Mixing gravel chips, cement and waterproof.
Careful leveling.
Clean up. Everybody does their part.
A hearty meal and fun fellowship.
Removing the mold and it looks good! It will cure for 7 days.
And the process is repeated!
THANKS to everyone who helped us bring potable water to those we serve in Kenya. With a great team of nationals, bio-sand water filters are being constructed on our compound for widows and orphans. How great is that? They might not be able to turn on a tap or crack open a bottle, but this nifty contraption will let them pour whatever water they have and make it safe to consume. YEAH GOD. This filter, introduced with the gospel message is effective outreach in the community. Win Win Win! Clean water from the Living Water for those who need water. Again - YEAH GOD!
Asante sana for your prayers, support and encouragement.
hugs from the haugers Ooo0o
