Water Training

Did you know:
--Approximately 25,000 people die a lack of safe water and sanitation every day?
--80% of all diseases worldwide are from contaminated water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene?
--On average, women and girls in Africa and Asia walk 4 miles every day to collect water for their families?
--Every 15 seconds a child dies from a water related illness?

It's sad to think that each and every day I get up, brush my teeth, take a shower, flush the toilet, wash my hands...all of these things involve water and I don't even think twice about using the water or what it takes to get clean water from the faucet. So often I just take it for granted that it will never run out. Sometimes if my water tastes funny I'll pour it out and just fill up a new bottle. But how many people in the world go without even clean water to drink?

Jess and I traveled to Charleston yesterday and spent the night with Brad Reed who works with Water Missions International. He and his family were very hospitable towards us and Jessica and I had a great time. Mrs. Debbie fed us spaghetti and meatballs and it was pretty good. And Jessica was pretty excited because she got to watch American Idol. Then this morning we got up and headed to the facility to be trained on the water filtration/wells. We will be helping get one started in Datanli, a city close to Jinotega.

We thought that we would be sitting at a table taking notes and looking at slides and stuff like that. Not even close. They took us back into the facility where they put the wells together and began our introduction into the world of Water Missions.

They put the systems in a town/village only after they have observed the community. They don't want to put in a system that will be abused. They don't want the community to try and profit off the water system. If there is tension in the community, they don't want one group being able to use the water and another group not be able to use the water. Sometimes if the people don't use the system properly or if there is bickering over it the organization will take the system and send it to a town who would put it to better uses. This is the case for one town in Peru, and a guy was there at the organization to learn how to take the system apart. They test every system completely before they send it out, and so there was a unit up and running when we got there. Jessica and I got to help take the system apart and then we packaged it up and got it ready to send out.

The systems are kind of hard to describe, but Jess has some photos which I will try to link on here some how. It was a really great opportunity because we got to learn more about the organization and how it's not just about going in and building the well in. It's about helping the community come together and work together to help others get clean water. I'm really excited about working on this part of the project and I am interested in possibly volunteering with Water Mission International in the future.

I apologize for misspelled words or sentences that make absolutely no sense. It's late and I'm heading to bed. Love to all, Courts

Check out their website: www.watermissions.org

~John 7:37b~