Sep
28
TBOWH Updates – September 2009
Filed Under TBOWH Updates
Water: Promise and Peril
It is an axiom of hunger relief and development that the safety and availability of water marks the upper boundary community health. The health of a community never exceeds the abundance and purity of its water.
People in the developed world usually take water for granted, not giving the issue much thought until safety and availability just happens to become an issue with regard to their own water supply. People in the developing world have no such luxury. For them, water is a paradox—the source of both life and death. No one can live without it, but millions upon millions of people are decimated by the microbes and chemicals which contaminate the only water available to them.
Addressing this all-too-common dilemma is the focus of the water and sanitation projects supported the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger for 2009 and 2010:
Port-Prince, Haiti: Haiti Baptist Mission, Sanitation Project–$20,000 (2009)
Haiti is one of the least developed countries in the Western Hemisphere, and one of the poorest in the world. Eighty percent of the population lives in poverty, and the average life expectancy is 51 years. Only 41 percent of the people have access to safe drinking water. The Haiti Baptist Mission will help communities build sanitary latrines and cisterns in twenty districts. TBOWH funds will help purchase building materials for the project.
Aksum, Ethiopia: Water Well Project–$20,000 (2009)
Despite recent economic growth and rainfall, poverty and hunger remain widespread in Ethiopia. Millions continue to face chronic food insecurity and water shortages. Much of the population, especially away from the major cities, lacks access to clean water, health care, and education. Current Buckner ministries in Ethiopia include a foster care/kinship program in Addis Ababa and surrounding suburbs; vocational training and community development programs in Addis, Nazareth, Gulele and Debra Zet; a Baby Home and Adoption Center in Addis; and a Community Development Center and school in Bantu. The goal is to expand foster care to Aksum in 2008 and to build a Community Development Center and school in 2009. A new water well will be drilled on land for the Community Development Center and will provide fresh drinking water for the children attending the school and the surrounding community. TBOWH funds will help underwrite the cost of drilling the well.
Arusha: Mount Meru University, Water Borehole Project–$25,000 (2009)
Formerly known as International Baptist Theology Seminary for East Africa, Mount Meru University was granted a certificate of full registration in 2003. The university is currently working to achieve full accreditation and offers eight diploma and bachelors degree programs. The educational opportunities afforded by Mount Meru represent a way out of poverty for Tanzanians, and as such, the student body is rapidly growing. Because the present water supply has proved inadequate, plans have been completed for drilling a new water borehole. By fitting an existing, abandoned borehole with a new pump and bringing the new well online, the needs of current and future students for adequate drinking water should be met. TBOWH funds will be used to underwrite the cost of drilling and the purchase of new pumps and a storage tank.
Cajamarca, Peru: Villa Milagro Ministries, Water Well Projects–$10,000 (2009 and 2010)
Since 1984, Villa Milagro Ministries has engaged in hunger relief and development projects in economically depressed areas of Peru, including water well drilling, road construction, youth scholarships, microenterprise development, medical and dental clinics, and school construction. Several locations in the coastal valley north of Chiclayo do not have access to safe water supplies. Residents have long recognized their major health problems were directly related to contaminated water, and health officials report that the overall health of the villages receiving new wells has improved by 80 percent or more. The health benefits of potable water for these villages and schools where new wells have been placed are manifold. Because accessible aquifers offer pure water in the proposed locations, boreholes will be drilled and wells established. TBOWH funds will be used to help underwrite new well construction.
Bungoma, Kenya: Buckner International, Water Well Project–$20,000 (2010)
With a regional population of 1.4 million, the major economic activity in Bungoma is farming. The population density coupled with rural unemployment has put pressure on land use and other natural resources. Living standards in the Western Province are generally low, and social amenities like running water and electricity are not available to the majority of the province’s residents. UNICEF reports that less than 50 percent of the rural population has access to clean drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities. In the past two years Buckner has drilled water wells in Busia and Kitale, also in the Western Province. Both communities now have a healthier population, better crops, and more social services. With the introduction of a new water well in Bungoma, other services and ministries will follow, the health of the general population will be enhanced, and crop yields will improve. TBOWH funds will be used to underwrite the costs involved in drilling the new well.
South Sumatra, Indonesia: Water Relief–$7,500 (2009 and 2010)
Clean water is critically scarce throughout South Sumatra. Villagers who live near one of the many rivers of the province typically use polluted river water for all of their water-use needs–bathing, washing clothes and dishes, brushing teeth, washing food, using the restroom, and water for drinking. Those who do not live near a river often use shallow dug wells which draw from contaminated surface water. Even in larger cities, the scarcity of clean water is a serious problem. Providing clean water produces enormously positive results: less illness, greater opportunity to work and attend school, better standard of living and quality of life. The project provides clean water through the construction of community sized, slow-sand water filtration systems in villages situated along rivers. Each filter consists of a gravel-pre-filter, a slow-sand main filter, and a charcoal final filter. No chemicals are used so as to keep the expense and difficulty of maintenance to a minimum. In areas not close to rivers, hand-drilled wells are established. In both the construction of filters and the drilling of wells, recipient communities are closely engaged so that they have a greater sense of involvement with and ownership of the final product. TBOWH funds will be used to purchase materials for filter and well construction.
Read about the relationship between water availability and climate change. (pdf)
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