As the disaster relief people begin to arrive from all over the world, water once again came to the forefront, because pure water was desperately needed to prevent disease and further deaths.
Presbyterians in typical Presbyterian fashion tried to help as much as possible. A missionary in Thailand went to the devastated area to assist. Mission workers in India helped in a hospital. Susan Ryan, head of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, went to Geneva to meet with other denominational relief agencies to pool this information, ability and resources. In local churches, funds were raised in many different ways.
And behind all this was a universal agreement of the need for pure water.
But Presbyterians have realized for a long time the need for clean water in many parts of the world- not just in the present disaster cleanup. A project called Living Waters for the World points out that the need for purified water is overwhelming. Three million people die each year from water related illness, most of them children.
Through the work of this group and its mission partners, children are being saved from certain illnesses and deadly complications that come from dirty water.
I think back on some of my travels and remember an administrator of a former Presbyterian hospital in Southern Africa, telling then-moderator Harriet Nelson and a group from the Presbyterian Hunger Committee that the best thing the hospital had going for them was a well out front of pure water. He stated, “This prevents more illness than we heal in this hospital.”
I remember in Haiti inside the mission hospital area a well with a pipe through the fence. People came night and day seeking clean water. I remember seeing women trying to wash clothing in dirty water. I remember sewage running in the street. I remember the stench in areas where there was no clean water.
Living Waters for the Word has headquarters at 318 Seaboard Lane, Suite 205, Franklin TN 37067. They also began a group called Clean Water U. It’s a training school located at Hopewell Camp and Conference Center outside of Oxford, Miss.
Those who learned how to install water purification systems along the Rio Grande in Mexico share this knowledge and skill with those who wish to learn.
The Synod of the Living Waters, looking at their name, decided they were meant to help and have joined this effort.
Presbyterians do care and will continue to care about needy children around the world. And with the realization that clean water is one of the basic needs they will work in that direction. They will try to help with the present world crisis and will continue to work with the crisis that has been there all the time.
They deliver the water of life both clean, pure water and spiritual water.
Water, water … and more water.
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