“Which of these bottles of water is dirty?” asks Jose, the health & hygiene teacher in the rural community of San Pablo in Guatemala, while he holds up three different water bottles. One is visibly dirty, brown water that looks like the water from the river. The children immediately eliminate that bottle saying “of course…
Hello, friends! My name is Megan Koontz, and I am a small-town girl born and raised in the hipster hub of Rogers, Arkansas. I am one of four kids, sandwiched in the middle of an older sister, a younger brother, and a younger sister. In December, I gained an older brother when my sister married…
What does it mean to “treat” water? On the surface it seems simple: “Treated water” is that which has been made safe to drink through some form of processing. This is presumably desirable for human health and global development. Taking a closer look however, the term is quite ambiguous: Does treating water imply putting something into it,…
I’ve heard of people running a marathon to raise money for a great cause they believe in – but never heard of one person running 50 marathons in 50 weeks! Until now. Oh and did I mention in 50 different states? When Bryce told me about his vision for the Run5050 Campaign to raise $750,000 to help solve the global water crisis, I thought he…
The large banner hanging over the street was a familiar: “Merry Christmas.” But I was surprised, because I was in a small town in the Dominican Republic – in October! I saw a similar banner a couple weeks later in early November in Nairobi, Kenya. “Merry Christmas” is a greeting and a sentiment being shared…
“On this Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for the opportunity that God has given me to serve Him through Healing Waters for the past 10 years. I feel blessed and thankful to be a part of a group of committed women and men that strive to bring the gift of safe water to hundreds of communities, families,…
In Laguna del Cofre, Chiapas, Mexico, the children who attend the local school enjoy a luxury that is quite uncommon in the region—a “flush” toilet. These children would fill up a bucket with dirty water, dump the bucket in the toilet, and flush it. The problem was that they were also drinking the water directly from…
According to the EPA, the average American family uses more than 300 gallons of water per day at home, with roughly 70 percent of this use occurring indoors. Most of the usage happens during activities that we’ve grown accustomed to in the United States like showering twice a day, making coffee, and watering our plants.…
San Ramon is a rural community located in south-central Guatemala. Home to about 100 families, San Ramon became a safe place for refugees to settle as they were fleeing violence from the Guatemalan Civil War during the early 1990s. These types of communities are common in this region of Guatemala and are comprised of individuals…