This is “clean” water supplied
by the government to remote villagers.
(Photo credit India Partners/John Sparks)
India (MNN) — Approximately 780 million people worldwide lack access to clean water, and around 20% of them live in India.
India Partners President John Sparks is in the field right now, laying a foundation to bring clean water to unreached villages. He and a team of national and U.S. believers are meeting with leaders of isolated villages, assessing clean water needs and Gospel presence.
Along with clean water, India Partners will also be bringing Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) training to each village.
“When you bring in water, you’re also bringing in the Living Water,” notes Sparks. “Every step of the [WASH] lesson includes different parts of the Gospel.”
This trip isn’t just about identifying needs, though. Sparks and his team also visited some of the villages that received wells and WASH training last year.
“It has increased their quality of life as well as given them clean water,” Sparks reports.
Life before clean water
This woman is harvesting water
for her family from a dry stream bed.
(Photo courtesy India Partners/John Sparks)
Before they received wells from India Partners, some of the villagers were boiling their water, a process which consumed most of their day. Water was collected from a source usually located about two kilometers (1.2 miles) outside the village. Then, wood was collected from whatever source was available, be it trees or brush.
Villagers who lacked resources or time to boil their water simply drank it as-is. This resulted in an abundance of water-borne diseases; children missed school because they were sick, and some even died.
Life after clean water
(Photo credit India Partners/John Sparks)
Thanks to the WASH training and wells installed last year by India Partners, remote villagers have a much greater quality of life.
“All the time that is saved in not having to boil [their] water changes their life,” observes Sparks.
“It improves their ability to cook their food and do some other chores, earn some more money, help their children with school, or whatever it may be.”
Can you help India Partners bring this type of change to even more villages?
A family Sparks and his team spoke with while surveying villages on this trip lost two children to illnesses caused by drinking dirty water. Their third and remaining child is currently in poor condition.
“All of these things combined just leave [villagers] with a quality of life that is horrible, but there’s nothing they can do,” says Sparks.
“They live on the edge of society; they’re impoverished, some of them are internally displaced.”
(Photo credit India Partners/John Sparks)
Once they finish surveying villages, India Partners and their cohorts will decide which ones need Jesus and clean water the most. Then, WASH training will begin, and wells will be dug.
You can sponsor one of the wells here.
For now, the India Partners team needs your prayers as they finish up their trip. Please pray for good health and traveling mercies.
I am an US Citizen . I would like be servant for this project. I have some villages in Tamil Nadu where in I have some lands from wherein God would help to reach out to those who thrust for living water too. I know this is hard in these days and recent laws. But God’s Plan cannot be thwarted anyway. I am a retired OBGYN. If finance allows and Gods” will,I would like to make a ministry for women and children and rehabilitate the women against the evil of female Infanticide and female children abuses. I trust in Him to lead us and give us wisdom. Thank you for your precious time and listening. May God bless your Ministry and advancement of His Kingdom!