By Kara Boda, Communications Advisor
April, 2013—Do you know that in many places, women walk up to 10 kilometers a day just to reach a water source? In sub-Saharan Africa alone, women and girls spend an estimated 16 million hours each day gathering water to survive. Water is a heavy burden to millions of people worldwide.
These are staggering statistics. What can we do when we hear such things?
First of all, we can help by giving people clean and healthy water. When we provide physical assistance to those who need it, we capture the heart of God, “who comforts the downtrodden” (2 Corinthians 7:6, NIV).
One way that Samaritan’s Purse helps those in need is through our BioSand Water Filter program. These filtration systems provide clean drinking water to over 22,000 new families every year across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. As a result of our program:
Yet we never give water just for water’s sake.
When Jesus encountered a woman drawing water from a well, He said to her: “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14, NIV).
When we help those in need, we become “streams of living water” who point back to the Source (John 7:38, NIV). Our prayer is that through our projects, people around the world may come to know Jesus Christ, the Wellspring of Life.
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.