Our Work

Water is something that Sylvia Sanchez Illani constantly has to worry about.

At times, she has to worry about the river that she lives beside  flooding her homestead in the Beni department of Bolivia. Last year the water came over its banks and her home was filled with 60 centimeters of dirty river water.

Other times, Sylvia has to worry about the river drying up. During the dry season the river empties, draining towards Brazil to form the Amazon River. The river beds form pathways that people who live along the river use to travel to the city of Loreto, the closest urban center.

All year long Sylvia worries about her children drinking water that will make them sick. After the flooding occurred last year, Sylvia went to a community health session, where Samaritan's Purse nurses explained the dangers of drinking dirty water. At that time, the nurses handed out water purification sachets and explained the importance of boiling water to kill any bacteria.

The nurses also mentioned that Samaritan's Purse would be building BioSand Water Filters in the area through its Household Water Program. Sylvia was overjoyed and immediately signed up to receive one of the filters. She returned for two days when the filter project began to help with the sorting of the gravel and sand used in the filter.

Sylvia was anxious to receive her BioSand Filter, but unfortunately, the rains started again. While there was no severe flooding, the project was delayed as the river became too difficult to navigate with the remaining filter supplies.

Sylvia waited patiently, boiling an enormous pot of water each day to protect her family from the dangers of unsafe water.

Finally, in the middle of April, Sylvia received word that Samaritan's Purse would arrive to install her BioSand Filter. On the day the filter was installed, Sylvia was beaming.

“I’ve always been very worried about the health of my children,” Sylvia said. “Now my daughter and son won’t become sick because of the water. This filter will be a blessing to my family.”

Ernesto, Sylvia’s 11-year-old son, sees another benefit to having the filter. It was Ernesto’s job to cut firewood for boiling the water to make it safe for the family to drink.

“(The filter) will make everything easier,” Ernesto said. “I’ll have more free time to play without chopping all of the wood.”

Ways You Can Help
Pray Please pray that God will continue to provide direction to Samaritan’s Purse, as we respond to people’s needs, share the love of Christ, and serve the church worldwide.		Give The need is urgent. A child is dying every 20 seconds in the developing world from diarrhoeal diseases caused by polluted water. Donate Here.