BlueEyedZoo.com

Some Facts:

The science is simple: drinking poop kills.
Nobody wants to drink poop… but when water comes from a shallow well and the only place to do your business is a pit latrine, it happens.
— Quoted from OneDollarWater.com

• 1.1 Billion very important people lack access to clean water. They drink from polluted lakes and streams where animal waste, human waste, and parasites infect the water.
• Women and children walk 2 hours each way to fetch water (hauling dirty water back to their families.) They have no time or energy left for education or small business, and many of them die.
• Preventable water related diseases kill one child every 15 seconds. That’s 10,000 every day (and that’s just the children).

— Quoted from 1000wells.com

I have been given a great opportunity by my church and Living Water International to go and be a part of a well dig in El Salvador. Living Water is doing all of the heavy lifting for planning the trip, hiring a drilling crew, scouting out an ideal location, all the logistics, etc. Our team of 5 will be there to assist the drilling crew and provide education to the community with regard to sanitation and health.

I’m really excited about this opportunity. This is something that we’ve dreamed about being a part of for some time. Unfortunately, my wonderful wife will not be going with me on this trip. We felt like the Bear was a little too young to go or be left for a week away from Momma. So, we’re also viewing my trip as a fact finding mission. We hope to be able to do this as a family in the not too distant future.

Some of my friends and family have asked how they can pray for me on this trip. First of all pray that we hit water. We will be drilling for up to 5 days, and there is a possibility that we may not find water at all. We will obviously be disappointed by that, but the community who is currently drinking mud from surface puddles contaminated with poop will not be blessed. Pray that we will be able to bring the true living water of Christ to this community in addition to life sustaining water. Pray for our health of course and all the connections we have to make. And pray for Living Water to be able to reach more and more communities around the world with this most fundamental requirement for life.

If you are interested in getting involved contribute to one of the many organizations dedicated to providing clean water around the world. TheH2OProject.org has some great resources. Check our their page of water drilling organizations here.
It cost surprisingly little to dig a well for an entire community. A shallow well could be as little as $3,000 and provide clean water for hundreds. On average it only cost $1 to provide clean water for one person per year. Shocking considering that I paid $4 for a fancy espresso drink just the other day.

Filed under: Faith on May 7th, 2008