What About Water?

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

How We Live In "the Missing"

"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.”
― C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves

It can be hard living on the mission field in a culture so foreign from our own that we constantly question: “Where do I fit? How does this work? What should be done?” Some days it’s particularly tough. That’s when "the missing” happens. We long for those close to us - whose prayers, support and encouragement carries us.  Seeing friends and family on skype becomes a soothing salve we apply generously to cover "the missing" wounds.

 

We came to Kenya because of a divine call; one we heard as young believers.  We studied missions in Bible school, got involved in cross-cultural ministries and prayed as God nurtured our vision over many years.  Funny, when we set out to follow that call we expected good things, and rightly so because God is good.  He has destiny with future and hope.  We left our comfort zone starry-eyed and determined.  Sure, we calculated the cost this adventure extracts – missed celebrations, loss of familiar fellowships, especially the lively conversations with kindred souls over comfort foods – but, when it came to actually “paying” that cost, emotions can mess with  vision. Pun intended.

So, what to do when "the missing” becomes so tangible it pierces our soft spots?

1.  Have FUN.  Yep.  Do something meaningfully silly with people and ENJOY them.

2.  Be REAL with those God sent us to serve.  Healthy relationships form out of honest ministry.

3.  Always PRAY.  Let the Lord, who heals hearts, mend the brokenness and build new bonds.

We lived this advice all the way to Kajulu, a desperately poor village where widowed mamas, both young and old, care for orphans.  Who would have guessed that regularly gathering with 12 Luo women under the shade of a mango tree would ease "the tender missing?”  Warm evening sun finds us sharing our stories, our discoveries, our food and our laughter. (Note: Being silly = ammunition against overwhelming poverty.)

God gave us friends in Kajulu; ones where comfortable chatter bypasses language differences; ones that ask probing questions because the answers expose priceless value;  ones with interest in exploring the Lord’s plans for the future - together; ones that create a sincere, “Karibu sana” - you are welcome here anytime my friend.

For those we are longingly "missing," we send you sweet shalom. For our new friends here in this far away land, abundant thanks for embracing us.  Life is simply joyless survival without all of YOU. 
 

 

Warm chatter over sweet roselle tea.

Mama Mary's humor keeps us giggling.

Mama Carol's sweet smile is contagious.

Mama Janet oversees our group with gladness.

Rice is set in the fire-less cooker to steam and in 30 minutes we 

share the soft treat.  This method of cooking saves time and fuel.

Carolyne shares an activity that focuses the conversation on Jesus.

Mamas' pick colored papers with characteristics of Heavenly Father

and share testimonies of how He blesses them.

 

Mama Rose tells of painful experiences trying to steal their destinies, 

but God's grace intervenes.

Luo Bibles are few and highly valued. To have God's

Work in their heart language speaks volumes.

With what little she has, Mama Janet cares for these orphaned girls.

So blessed with "rafikis" of like passions.

What's next?  Continual relationship based discipleship and development so 

widowed mamas are equipped to care for orphans - a pure act of worship.

James 1:27.

Asante sana for your prayers, support and encouragement.

hugs from the haugers Ooo0o

Giving Back

Sustainable sewing gives back.
It’s learning to create with excellence.
It’s redeeming wounded self-worth.

It knows quality matters,
because all is done for the glory of God.
It’s doing an everyday mundane task
and finding how God wants to use it
to bless another.

It’s not waiting for the some sweet day
when you have something to give away.
It’s giving without getting.
It’s living faith now.

Widowed mamas learn to sew –
measure, mark, pin, thread, stitch. 

Result – 

Fluffy, bright pillows for handicapped, orphaned children. 

BEAUTIFUL! 

 

 Our friend, and seamstress extraordinaire, 

        teaches with humor and expects the best. 

  

  

 

The widowed mamas learn to sew by hand, 

on electric and manual machines.  

 

 A four-legged visitor

interrupts the class.

Pillow delivery = JOY!

 

This project helped six widowed mamas to learn a skill and use it to bless someone else, before they used it to benefit themselves. The project can continue but needs your help.  

•  $200 will buy another manuel sewing machine. (The electric one was barrowed. The manual and sewing supplies were generously provided. Thanks!)
• Dontions will purchase material - cotton katanga at about $2.oo per yard.

 With these items we could teach weekly,

 improving the mamas' skill base and blessing those in need.

Check the paypal bar on the right

Or

Send donation payable to CARE
PO Box 3543, Pagosa Sp. CO 81147

with a sticky note - "CARE4Nations. Sewing."

Asante sana!

Mungu akubariki.

hugs form the haugers Ooo0

in Jesus name...

Omondi’s hand grips the hammer, using it like a chisel; 

he scraps away unwanted wood. 

A perfect joint exposed, 

ready to fit the next altered cedar pole. 

He flips his tool and pounds down 4-inch nails 

to fix them together.

Metal straps secure the bond. 
His creation will support screening to protect tender vegetables from thieving birds.

Like the Master Carpenter in the lives of His disciples, 
Holy Spirit forms us by cutting away unuseful parts 
so we work in unison - God's creation,
bound by cords of love,
to bring hope to a wounded world 

in Jesus name.

Mid October we planted a garden against hunger – tomatoes, kale, lettuce, onions, and carrots. 
Our harvest began in earnest. Joy to share fresh produce 
with the hungry encouraged our efforts. 

But then – the birds! 

Thanks to a specific donation 
from an organization that promotes sustainability, 
we gather materials for a screen house. Soon, we’ll be feeding the hungry again 

in Jesus name. 

DIGGS training encounters a new group of zealous students – some starting churches, some beginning schools, preaching and teaching 
in Jesus name.


The widowed mamas grow in helps by learning to sew. This project will serve handicapped orphaned children. Women, who were once victims, learn to give back 
in Jesus name. 
(Can’t wait to show you the finished product, delivered with a smile tomorrow!
Special thanks to our dear friend from New Zealand, Joan!)


Encouraged by young ones touching a hungry world 
with John 3:16

in Jesus name.

"From Him the whole body, joined and held together 

by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself 

up in love, as each part does its work."

Ephesians 4:16

Asante sana for joining us in support so we work together 

caring for widows and orphans 

in Jesus name. 

James 1:27.

hugs from the haugers 0oo0