THAT I MAY NEVER BE THIRSTY"Sir give me this water, so that I may never get thirsty nor have to come here to draw." John 4:15 . This story of the Samaritan woman at the well has always been one of my favorite stories in the New Testament. A well in an arid land, people coming all day long to draw water and fill containers to carry back to their families. All around the world this two thousand year old story still plays itself out on a daily basis. The World Health Organization says that 80 percent of all sickness is caused by unsafe drinking water.
When I first came to Haiti 10 years ago I envisioned this poor devastated landscape with little or no water resources. As I got out and into the mountains and traveled across the country I found a land with numerous springs gushing out from under rocks. They cascade down from their mountain sources to become streams and rivers making their way to the ocean. In some villages you can find hand dug wells just like from the story in the Bible, some lucky villages have drilled wells with hand pumps.
Yet water availability and especially clean safe drinking water remains a huge problem for Haitians. Water needs to often be carried great distances to where it is needed. Time after time we find hand pumps that no longer are operable because they have a broken or damaged part. Very few springs are capped to keep livestock, bathers and those doing laundry far enough away to keep the water pure. Nor are cisterns built to store enough water for all to readily get clean water from out of a spigot.
Yet water availability and especially clean safe drinking water remains a huge problem for Haitians. Water needs to often be carried great distances to where it is needed. Time after time we find hand pumps that no longer are operable because they have a broken or damaged part. Very few springs are capped to keep livestock, bathers and those doing laundry far enough away to keep the water pure. Nor are cisterns built to store enough water for all to readily get clean water from out of a spigot.
These are some of the water projects that G.A.P. 's Feet Across the Mountains ministry will be taking on as we partner with communities in the mountains. We start by meeting with the leaders and elders of the villages to build a sense of community effort and pride in doing projects that benefit their communities. These projects allow us to gain their trust and confidence . It has been said that to get very far as a missionary the people you work with need " to know how much you care , before they care how much you know." Helping give them pure water will allow us to share with them the living water Jesus promised the Samaritan woman.
In God's love , Steve
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