Today is World Water Day. In my house I have nine I can get water. All I have to do is turn on a faucet.

In fact, I don’t have to walk more than 15 feet to reach a water source anywhere in my house.

I don’t have to think about or make an effort to get water. I don’t have to boil my water or worry about drinking it. It’s clean and refreshing.

The water that comes out of my fridge is even filtered to make it taste better.

As long as I pay my water bill each month, I get clean, cold (or hot), refreshing water to come out of every single one of my nine faucets.

Do I take this for granted? Definitely.

A person can live four weeks without food, but only three days, depending on the circumstances without water. Lack of water can cause short-term memory loss, fatigue, and trouble learning. Your body will not function without water.

While I have almost immediate access to clean drinking water at any time of day, more than 1 billion people in the world do not. Water.org is an organization that strives to ensure safe drinking water worldwide. Below are some staggering statistics shared on their website.

• More than 3.5 million people die each year from water-related disease; 84 percent are children.
• Nearly all deaths due to unclean water, 98 percent, occur in the developing world.
• Lack of access to clean water and sanitation kills children at a rate equivalent to a jumbo jet crashing every four hours.
• Lack of sanitation is the world’s biggest cause of infection.
• Millions of women and children spend several hours each day collecting water from distant, often polluted sources. This is time not spent working at an income-generating job, caring for family members, or attending school.
• 443 million school days are lost each year due to water-related illness.

(Statistics from water.org)

Thankfully, many organizations have seen the need and are stepping up to help. Another organization is Healing Waters International, which we partner with to provide clean water to the churches and children we serve. Healing Waters uses purification technologies that tap an existing water supply and make it safe to drink. They currently serve more than 120,000 people with clean water each day.

Since 2008, we have invested more than $6 million in water projects benefiting 650,000 people in all but three of the countries we work in. Because we are committed to equipping and empowering our children, we also provide educational activities on water and hygiene to ensure they are healthy during and after they complete our program.

We have also purchased 56,000 water filters, which are being distributed in Haiti to help fight the spread of cholera. The filters can convert filthy, dirty, muddy water into clean, drinkable water and can be used to make potable water in places where animals are present.

What’s incredible is that there are no chemicals, no moving parts that can break, and no training or electricity needed to use these filters. Each filter can produce at least 1 million gallons of water – enough water for a lifetime supply for 60 people.

In addition to water filters, rainwater harvesting systems we recently implemented in Tanzania can reduce the spread of waterborne illnesses and provide clean water so children can practice good hygiene. The people of Tanzania, for example, experience water shortages regularly because of natural and human factors.

Rainwater harvesting will help decrease illnesses and will hopefully improve program attendance and Compassion’s ability to successfully reach the children on a regular basis.

Today is World Water Day. How many water sources do you have in your house?

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West Sumba Island in Indonesia is blessed by its natural resources. Tall trees, fertile soil, mountains, and beaches fill the land. But although it looks like a lush paradise, poverty is still severe in this part of the island, and the villagers struggle to have clean water.

“The Marada Kalada village community is characterized by low access to clean water, low sanitation, low rate of education, high malaria cases, high rate of baby mortality, and crime,” says Pastor Benyamin from a local church in West Sumba.

Traditionally, West Sumba homes are built on top of the hills, but the water sources are typically located in the valleys. Families build their homes on the higher ground because village wars still often happen today. Tribes and households can be engaged in long feuds, so they build on the more easily defensible high ground.

The men of West Sumba love to carry swords with them all the time. If they don’t have their sword, they feel naked and insecure.

“I like to carry my sword everywhere I go. It is part of my identity and pride,” says Lendemalo, age 65, one of the eldest in the village.

Wearing a sword is the sign that you are one of the warriors of the family. Warriors are always ready to defend their families and houses, just like in ancient times when villages were often at war with other villages.

Because of these village wars, families struggle to access water. From the rivers in the valleys they have to carry water up to their homes on the hills.

All family members, including small children, are responsible for carrying water home from the water sources. Because they don’t have much, they use the water very carefully, only to cook and wash the dishes. They bathe and wash clothes at the river.

Children’s hygiene is often neglected, as they can’t bathe or wash their hands as often as they need to. Health issues like skin diseases are common among people because of the lack of clean water.

This is where the church steps in.

Pastor Benyamin has been leading the church in Marada Kalada village, West Sumba, Indonesia, since 2002. Along with his wife and two little daughters, Pastor Benyamin moved to Mondomia from Waitabula. The people of Mondomia recognize him as part of the local community and he knows their customs.

Pastor Benyamin’s church began partnering with Compassion in 2006 to respond to the many needs of the families. After several years of partnership, Pastor Benyamin realized there was a chance to work with Compassion through the Complementary Interventions Program (CIV) to help the church build a water installation, bringing clean water to the water tank at the church.

He hoped that the people around the church and others in the village would have closer access to clean water. He also wanted the church to set an example of how to live a healthy life.

There are springs located at the lot behind the church. It belongs to a native Sumbanese family. For a long time, the springs were considered sacred by the community. The people were worried that if they used the water a bad spirit would haunt them, so they would use other water sources near the river.

But the owner has allowed the church to use it as long as they need, with no time limit. This family is willing to give the privilege to the church because they respect the church as a religious institution and they know that the church will use it for good.

“We were pleased to hear the plan of the church to use the water to help the church and the children,” shared a mother who has one of her children registered at the child development center.

The water installation project began in August 2010. Parents of Compassion sponsored children worked hand in hand, volunteering to build the water installation. They built a permanent well at the spring and a concrete water tank at the church.

“Parents of the development center children are willing to give their times in the water installation project, they are happy to help the church,” says Pastor Benyamin.

The water tank was placed on a high hill supported by the tower. Gravity helps the water to run down to the concrete water tank below, next to the church building. Currently the water use is limited to Compassion-assisted children and church activities.

The church is still working to design a support system that will maintain the water pump and help pay the electric bill. In the future, the church hopes to make the water available to the community so they have easier access to clean water.

“Soon this will benefit families, but also invite them to be part of the development center too,” says Pastor Benyamin.

In the meantime, the water tank is helping the children to practice good hygiene at the center. Before children were taught to wash their hands, but the teaching remained just head knowledge because water wasn’t available at the church. Now the mentors and children can together apply the good habit of washing their hands.

“Thank you to CIV for its water intervention program. I’m glad that Compassion cares to help children by bettering their lives through this program,” says Pastor Benyamin.

With 240 children registered at this child development center, Pastor Benyamin knows this project will impact not only children but also their families. Many of the parents are unbelievers, but they still allow the church to take care of their children. CIV has furthered the ministry of the Mondomia Christian Church to bless and reach out to this community.

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Nurturing the opportunities for cooperation in transboundary water management can help build mutual respect, understanding and trust among countries and promote peace, security and sustainable economic growth.

Previous World Water Day themes included:

• Sanitation (2008)
• Coping With Water Scarcity (2007)
• Water and Culture (2006)
• Water for Life (2005)
• Waters and Disasters (2004)

Learn more about past World Water Days.

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And for World Water Day 2009, we, Healing Waters, are celebrating our role in helping resolve this crisis by giving away free water at each of the water purification systems we’ve built with our local ministry partners. This event happens to coincide with a major ministry milestone for us – distributing 75 million gallons of safe drinking water to poor communities in developing countries.

Sustainability along with personal and community transformation are key components of our operational model. Over 110,000 people in poor, urban slums receive their daily drinking water from churches we partner with.

The churches have put nearly $500,000 back into their neighborhoods with community service funds and donated more than 3 million gallons to local schools. Every $50 donated to Healing Waters since we began seven years ago has provided life-giving water to another person.

While it took us 18 months to distribute our first million gallons of water and three years to deliver 10 million, we’re now distributing water at a rate of more than 1.6 million gallons a month.

With the addition of nine new systems this year, of which at least three will be at Compassion-assisted child development centers, we expect to deliver more than 2 million gallons per month by year end. (We currently operate 67 systems in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Mexico, 18 of which are at Compassion centers.)

“We are humbled to play a role in closing the gap on the world water crisis. We have become experts in our area of providing for the poor, urban communities of the developing world; but there is still so many more in need.” –  Ed Anderson, CEO of Healing Waters International.

Go to www.healingwatersintl.org to learn more and donate.

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