Changing Lives by Providing Access to Clean Water

How far did you have to walk this morning to get water?  Maybe as far as the kitchen or bathroom?  With just the turn of a knob, you have all the water you need to drink, cook, bathe, and wash your hands.  However, many people around the world do not have access to safe water.  The statistics are staggering:

• More than 2 billion people around the world lack access to safe drinking water.
• Every day more than 700 children under age five die from diseases linked to unsafe water, poor sanitation, and poor hygiene.
• Three billion people do not have access to handwashing facilities with soap.

In many communities, women and girls walk long distances to collect water and carry it back home for their families.  This task makes them vulnerable to attack from men and wild animals.  Sometimes girls are not able to attend school because they need to carry water.  Children are also often unable to attend school because they are sick with diseases caused by dirty water.  Lack of access to clean, safe water can trap a family in poverty for generations because of the impact on education and the amount of money spent on health care.

JESUS CARES FOR THE POOR

At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus went to the synagogue in Nazareth and read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.  Jesus announced to everyone that His mission would involve proclaiming good news to the poor (Luke 4:18).  Jesus carried out this mission by restoring sight to the blind, mobility to the lame, and hearing to the deaf.  He cleansed people with skin diseases and fed the hungry.  In Jesus’ day, the poor were often ignored and rejected, but Jesus proclaimed to them the good news of God’s love and salvation.

Today, as followers of Jesus, we are to carry on His mission to the poor.  God’s Word challenges us to care for their needs in real and tangible ways.

If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?  Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. – 1 John 3:17-18

PURE WATER, PURE LOVE

You and your church can care for the poor by helping provide access to clean, safe water.  Pure Water, Pure Love (PWPL) is a WMU Compassion Ministry that changes lives throughout the world.  With the help of individuals and churches, PWPL provides:

• wells to communities needing access to clean water in areas missionaries serve;
• water filters to missionaries so their families have access to clean water; and
• water filters for short-term missions teams.

In 2020, PWPL granted funds for 16 projects in 11 countries.  Through these projects, PWPL equipped missionaries with clean water resources, brought relief to people who are thirsty, and supported missionaries as they took the gospel to all nations.  Through PWPL, you and your church can help meet the physical and spiritual needs of people who are poor.  For more information, visit www.wmu.com/pwpl. 

“Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH),” UNICEF, accessed October 11, 2021, https://www.unicef.org/wash.

Reprinted from the March 2022 issue of Missions Mosaic, Woman’s Missionary Union, Birmingham, Alabama. Used by permission. To receive this issue, or subscribe to Missions Mosaic, call 1-800-968-7301.