May, 2013—Filthy water is expensive. Every 24 seconds, a child pays the ultimate price for drinking it: his or her life.
But before being robbed of existence itself, dirty water strips people clean of their health and well-being.
Children can’t get an education because of recurrent bouts of diarrhea. Parents can’t get ahead because of monthly medical expenses. Young men and women can’t work because a lack of clean water has already taken a toll on their able bodies.
But then there are people like Reina Guerrero and her family. They can now enjoy a cool glass of clean, delicious water anytime they want thanks to the colorful filter sitting outside their home in rural El Salvador—a filter that was provided by generous Canadian donors like you.
Their durable concrete BioSand Water Filter is lovingly adorned with a bouquet of tropical flowers, in stark contrast to the hand-dug well next to it.
Reina used to draw contaminated water straight from this well to use for all her household needs, including cleaning their food, her children, and herself. This often led to diarrhea. If they hadn’t made significant financial sacrifices in order to purchase bottled water for drinking, they would have experienced much worse.
Their lives dramatically changed when Reina discovered she could receive a BioSand Water Filter for free through our partner organization. All she had to do was help build it and attend training sessions about health and hygiene.
Since then, Reina’s filter hasn’t only been a blessing to her household, it has also been a life-saver for her friends, the Martinez family.
Only Marina Martinez, who suffers from diabetes, can only work part-time to provide for their family. Her husband has severe arthritis and her 22-year-old son is too sick to work because of kidney failure.
Kidney failure can be caused by not drinking enough water. Many families around the world find themselves in a Catch-22— drink dirty water and get sick, or avoid drinking water and risk dying from dehydration.
Reina, a true Good Samaritan, invited the Martinez family to pick up clean water from her BioSand Water Filter anytime. Even more generously, Reina’s family also decided to buy rice and grains for the Martinez family, using money they save from not having to buy bottled water.
Thirsty passersby who stop at Reina’s small store also benefit from the filter.
When her customers taste the water, they say, “It’s so good, how much did this filter cost? Where did you get it?” She replies, “It’s free. We received this blessing from a Christian organization.”
Then Reina often shares the Gospel. “The filter is free for us, the same way that salvation is free for you,” she tells them.
What you’ve read here is just a drop in the bucket of blessing that BioSand Water Filters are giving hundreds of thousands of families around the world thanks to Canadian donors like you. Many thousands more are waiting to receive filters—waiting for their lives to dramatically improve when they get clean water.
As for the Martinez family, it was only three months after they accepted Reina’s gracious offer of clean water that they received a BioSand Water Filter of their own.
Save the life of a child or adult in a developing country by providing safe water along with health and hygiene education that will help protect them from deadly, but preventable, diseases. Simple and effective water filters, community wells and water storage solutions, and sanitation facilities can all drastically improve lives and open doors to share the eternal hope of Jesus Christ.