Water

As we mentioned last week, the Coca-Cola Foundation has awarded a grant to supply water in Swaziland through Nazarene Compassion Ministries, Inc (NCMI). This is definitely a gift from God and here is why…

During last July’s GO Team from Bethany First Church, one of the team members became very passionate about the need for clean running water in Swazi communities. Since that time he and BFC worked with a local pumping company to purchase and install a solar water pump in the community of Sisatsaweni, where there is a Nazarene school, church, and clinic. With the success of this first installation BFC made a commitment to do the same for other Nazarene clinics that needed water. Though BFC made an aggressive commitment of funds it was going to take a number of years to even begin to reach their goal...

BUT…

God has another timeline in mind. As the sites were being surveyed for the BFC plan Coca-Cola approached NCMI and asked them if they had any interest in working on getting water for Swaziland. The answer was definitely YES!!! Coca-Cola has decided to fund the entire vision of bringing water to all Nazarene clinics and several other communities in need! The goal is for the clinic to receive water and also have a good enough supply system for the surrounding community to use as well. The contract was signed this week in Washington, DC, and so there are now many things we are working on in order to get the project going. The same kind of solar system used at Sisatsaweni will be supplied in each of these areas and implemented by the same water pump professional, Jimmy, who has become a good friend.

Two days this week were spent with Jimmy and his 11-year-old son Josh, scoping out the various sites that are on the first priority list to receive water. It was quite a wake-up call to realize each person we saw on these visits did not have adequate access to water, and often were left to drink, wash clothes, and cook with very dirty water. There was one community which was especially difficult to see. The road to this very rural area was in some places hardly a road at all. Several times we had to get out of the car to move rocks out of the way! Right now is the driest season of the year, and I could only imagine how impassable this road would be when the rains began! Jimmy explained that this area was just about as close as you could get to Mozambique without crossing the border, and that the people here were often out of reach for even the Swaziland government. I was astonished to see the traditional mud and stick homes I had read about the Schmelzenbachs seeing when they first arrived here over 100 years ago. The children were dressed, but their clothes were obviously very old and dirty, and some quite ragged.

The community members have no school to which they can send their children, and could not afford school fees if they had one. There are no clinics, no stores, no churches. There is no opportunity for work out there, and we did not see one vehicle which would allow transport into a town that had work. We saw a few homes that had gardens, but without good water supply they were not large or prosperous. We saw two women getting water, and Jimmy asked each about the water supplies. One supply was a small river or creek down in a valley and a long walk from the homes at the top of the mountain. Another supply was a little spring that produced what looked like a puddle. It was protected by a home-made fence of sticks, and we were told it supplied each family in the area at least one bucket of water a day, and sometimes two. The buckets she was using were about one gallon each. The families she was speaking of would consist of up to 18 people. So that means two gallons of water a day, at most, for all the drinking, washing, cooking, and gardening for an 18-person family!

As we drove away I groped at my feet for my water bottle, filled with clean drinking water brought from our flat. With my eyes still glued on the terrain, I brought the water to my lips and drank. Then I realized, for the first time ever, what an amazing gift I had just enjoyed. Instantly I almost felt guilty for drinking my good, clean water, in the presence of my brothers and sisters who had none.

I am overjoyed and grateful that we will be able to see the transformation of this community, first hand. Yet at the same time we are both left feeling a little stunned to be face to face with such great need. I know water will change this community completely in a few short weeks… but how many more communities throughout the world will still be in need? Let us continue to respond to our Lord in faith and see what he can do..

This week, please join us in prayer:
· for the many people here in Swaziland, in Africa, and all over the world who have no water.
· that we may hear all that God wants to tell us as we see places of such need.
· for Gods wisdom as we work alongside our Swazi brothers and sisters to bring water access to communities
· for meetings to be had with various local and government leaders regarding plans for the water installation projects.
· Remebering to praise God for the gifts he provides for us (water, shelter, food, clothing…)