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One trip to Kenya turned into many others, and Living Waters International was born. Suddenly my wife and I found ourselves in the lead to bring first, potable water, and then food to the people of the villages on Rusinga Island in Lake Victoria in Kenya. It was my understanding that they had not had fresh water for more than three years because the water system they had was no longer functional—all of the water technicians had died of AIDS. The population of Rusinga has a 42% HIV/AIDS rate and an 80% orphan rate.
A New Water System and Other Projects
Through a lot of work, donated funds and volunteer efforts, and help from Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), we were able to get a new water system up and running. The community wanted to name the water project after us and everyone who had helped with the project, but we convinced them to name it Living Waters. The first phase only provided water to a few villages. We have continued to work to bring it to more of the region.
In the last two years, we have refurbished the water infrastructure, including repairing the wind-operated water pumping system and wrenching and laying over one-half mile of galvanized 2-inch water line to bring water directly into the village center. We were able to purchase and install four water tanks, and several others were refurbished. This currently provides almost 13,000 gallons of stored water capacity. Water valves were replaced and a water intake system was designed, built and installed to bring water directly out of Lake Victoria.
But there is still much to do. With the support of a sizable donation we’ve been able to establish a feeding center that provides 48 children with one meal a day, five days a week. Eventually the center will provide two meals a day to 200 children and approximately 15 widows who are unable to care for themselves.
We could never have done this without the help of many volunteers, faithful donors and the power of God’s Holy Spirit.
Click here for more details on how you can help.
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