Our Work

Help with a heavy load

A BioSand Water Filter is very heavy – the exterior is concrete, and this shell, by itself, weighs 150 kg. It is impossible for all but the strongest people to lift on their own and the thought of carrying it any distance is unimaginable.

When the Household Water Program began building filters in the village of Chanzou I, Kenya, the people of the village believed that there would be no difficulty in transporting the filters from the construction site to their homes. However, one by one several villagers tried to pick up a filter, and one by one they each failed. Every person remained certain, though, that one man in the village would have no problems, Ali Yawa Mzungu.

Ali came to the construction site, a tall heavily built man. A large crowd followed him, everyone anxious to see Ali hoist the filter onto his shoulders and carry it home. Ali grabbed the filter, knees bent, arms wrapped around it, readying himself for the lift. He strained against the weight of the filter with a loud grunt, and the filter teetered. But it did not move. He tried again, and again the filter remained on the ground.

Ali was never able to lift the filter, but he did catch the eye of the Samaritan's Purse staff. They recruited Ali to join the construction team and help people carry the filters into their homes for installation.

As part of his employment, Ali was required to attend staff devotions every morning. He attended even though he was a Muslim, knowing the importance of the BioSand Water Filter to his village and wanting to be a part of giving people the life-saving filter.
Ali worked with Samaritan's Purse every day for two years, transporting and installing BioSand filters, attending daily devotions and following along in a Bible he had been given. “There was no pressure from our side for him to change his faith,” says one of the other team members, “but we kept talking about Jesus Christ and His love for mankind to Ali.”

After two years of transporting and installing filters, Ali was transferred. His new job was to wash the sand that is used in the filter. He would take sand from a local supplier, place it in a large plastic bowl, add water and swirl the sand, washing out any dirt. Ali then dumped out the dirty water and repeated the process several times until the sand was ready to be used. In this new task, Ali had ample opportunity to discuss faith with other staff.

One morning one of the Samaritan's Purse staff members stopped to pick Ali up for the walk to work. “Bwana asifwe (Praise the Lord)” was Ali’s greeting. The staff member was shocked. Ali explained that after nearly three years of building relationships with Christian staff members, he had committed his life to Christ the night before.

“It has been a great lesson for us,” said one Samaritan's Purse staffer. “Our work in this ministry is to plant the seeds, it is God’s work to water them and nurture them. Sometimes it takes a long time for the seed to grow. But God dwells everywhere, sometimes even in the grains of sand.”

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.