In a culture that values health, we celebrate when we hit 10,000 steps on our fitness trackers. But imagine having no choice but to walk that distance each way to collect water for your family; water that is often contaminated and unsafe.
Now envision you’re a pregnant woman, or a five-year-old child, and must make the hours-long journey twice each day, every day, no matter how you feel. This is the reality for children and women around the world who need water for their families.
Compassion. The dictionary defines compassion as the “sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it,” which means compassion is more than a feeling; it’s an action.
Jesus displayed compassion for the widow whose son died in Luke 7 when He brought her son back to life. In Matthew 15, Jesus had compassion on the hungry crowd, and He fed the 4,000 rather than send them on their journey home without food. These are just two examples of compassion-in-action which Jesus modeled throughout the Scriptures.
We must challenge ourselves to peer into the experience of those who don’t have access to healthy water, exhibit compassion, and act by doing what we can to implement safe water solutions in communities.
Current Availability of Safe Water
Clean water is a human right, and the lack of it is a critical human rights issue.
In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF reported:
- 2.2 billion people worldwide do not have safely managed drinking water services.
- 4.2 billion people worldwide lack safely managed water sanitation services. This is approximately half the world population.
- Six thousand children die of water-related diseases each day.
- The responsibility to collect water falls disproportionately on women and female children, resulting in loss of education for girls and missed opportunities.
- Children as young as five are walking six hours or more round trip to collect unsafe, dirty water.
These facts can’t be acceptable to any of us. Our compassion must move us to action. But how? We can start by investing in communities and providing access to safe water.
How to Implement Clean Water Solutions in a Community
At Healing Waters International, we don’t provide safe water and then walk away. Our mission includes so much more. We approach solutions holistically. Our role is to empower the local people, so they are equipped to grow physically, socially, economically, and spiritually.
Our approach to implementing clean water solutions in a community includes investing in people, implementing solutions, engaging for long-term success, and instilling hope.
1. Investing in People
To create long-term, sustainable change, we must invest in the people we are serving. So we provide business training and education using our health and hygiene curriculum to equip local community leaders.
Business training provides certification and gives the local people the ability to operate sustainable micro-businesses, maintain the water systems, and teach others in the community. Having ownership produces a sense of pride and integrity as they improve the well-being of their own communities.
Our health and hygiene trainers equip and train local community members to teach our curriculum to other mothers and children about water contamination, how it happens, and ways to avoid diseases and improve health. We provide two health and hygiene curriculums; one for women and one for children.
Investing in people is powerful because it not only shows transformation, but it also brings about change for future generations.
2. Implementing Safe Water Solutions
With water purification systems, one size does not fit all. Each community is unique and has distinct needs when implementing clean water solutions. For that reason, it’s crucial that we customize water systems to each individual community after extensive research and water testing.
Our GravityPure System and SolarPure System both offer:
- Ease of use
- Quality construction
- Low maintenance
- Reliability
We have the ability to modify or retrofit each of these systems, so they function as each community needs.
We can take the GravityPure System anywhere in the world by checking it onto any airline flight since it can be packed into three separate 50-pound duffle bags. Once it reaches its destination, it only takes four hours to assemble the system, providing clean water on the day it arrives.
The GravityPure System doesn’t require electricity and can produce 500-10,000 gallons of clean water each day. The water it purifies is 99.9% free of bacteria, viruses, and parasites, no matter how contaminated the water is or if the operator makes errors in the process.
The SolarPure System rapidly produces large amounts of clean water from contaminated freshwater sources. It utilizes various power supply sources when electricity is not reliable. It can also use solar, wind, battery, and generator power. It can produce up to 20,000 liters of water per 12 hours.
3. Engaging for Long Term Success
We not only care about the here and now, but we are invested in providing opportunities for a hope-filled future that lasts for generations.
We engage for long term success by keeping track of each water program and reporting results. This data gives us and the local leaders opportunities to learn and continue improving systems.
4. Instilling Hope
Hope leads to thriving. Hope has been described as; “To trust in, wait for, look for, or desire something or someone; or to expect something beneficial in the future.”
Hope changes people spiritually, emotionally, and physically. When people have hope, they positively change down to the cellular level, which leads to improved health. Hope-filled, healthy people who don’t have to worry about where their clean water will come from are free to live out their God-given dreams.
We all need the chance to pursue a quality of life that begins with the basic necessity of accessible, safe water. And we can all do something to help! We invite you to join us at Healing Waters International. Contact us today for more information about ways to partner with us. Together, we can end the global water crisis!