Life can be difficult and dangerous for Rosa* and Selina,* living in an urban slum in the Philippines. Disease spreads rapidly from poor sanitation, and caring for their children includes deworming them regularly. Parasitic worms often infect the water they must use every day.
That’s why these mothers were thrilled to each receive a household water filter, given by someone like you through Samaritan’s Purse. Now, Rosa and Selina have a reliable, safe water source in their homes.
“In my whole life, the most important thing is [clean] water,” Rosa said. “I feel like I know that my children are safe.”
Selina agrees. “Even though my life is in poverty, [the water filter is] good because my children and grandchildren don’t get sick anymore.”
These families have experienced the full range of waterborne illnesses—from daily stomach pain to vomiting to spending days in the hospital. The biggest culprits are dirty faucets that bring polluted water to their community. But it’s their only source of water.
Drinking dirty water doesn’t only take a toll on their health. It takes away from their limited household incomes. And for these families, every Philippine peso matters.
“The filter is a big help because it helps me save money—instead of buying mineral water worth 30 pesos,” Rosa explained. “My son told me, ‘Mom, I like it. It’s better than mineral water.’”
Selina used to boil water for her children. “Sometimes, when our stove runs out of gas, I will buy a peso of mineral water,” she told us. “When the filter arrived, I stopped buying and boiling water.”
The savings are a great help to these families, who have struggled to survive during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Best of all, the gift of these filters and hygiene training opens doors to share the Gospel in a place that desperately needs hope.
“The Lord is working in their hearts,” rejoiced Janella,* our partner organization’s community health agent. Janella has a passion for sharing God’s love with her neighbors in the southern Philippines—particularly the families living in this area. She introduced the filters to Rosa, Selina, and other women who live there.
“The water we offer to our friends is not just clean water but the water that Jesus offered,” Janella said. “It is the water that gives life, the water that will transform them and their whole community into a new creation in Jesus Christ.”
Hope flows to this community through your prayerful gifts in Jesus’ Name. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts” (Revelation 21:6, NKJV).
*Names changed for security
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.