|
Westminster Prebyterian Church’s Living Waters for the World ministry installed our first two in-home purification systems in the Appalachian region of Tennessee in April 2010. Jodie Folk, Bill McClanahan, Charles Leach, Carson Salyer, and Dennis Williams working with Jeff Wagner (husband of former Associate Pastor Joan Wagner), developed relationships with the Tazewell, Tennessee families, tested the water (heavily contaminated with bacteria) and designed the proper system on two previous visits to the area in March. In early April, the team left Nashville after the 11:00 AM service on Sunday and returned on Tuesday night. They spent two extremely busy but productive days getting the filtration “boards” inserted in both houses which now have clean water throughout. Initial contacts have been made with a third home owner. A small building to house the equipment will be required and Jodie and Dennis are going to construct and then transport it in pieces when the location is ready. Westminster is blessed with some extremely talented individuals, who incidentally honed their skills working for the church’s Habitat for Humanity and Mississippi Gulf Coast projects. Westminster has committed $2,650 per year for three years to Living Waters for the World (LWW) to design and install four treatment systems. Our installations represented the 33rd and 34th sites in the Appalachian counties of east Tennessee. It is estimated that there are 40-50 total families in the Tazewell area alone that don’t have clean water in their homes.
Our chapter of LWW’s mission began with the clean water facility in the Hogar de Belen Clinic in Iquitos, Peru. This was done under the leadership of our dearly missed friend Bill Kline working with his wife Beth Weaver, and Bruce Spaulding. Two follow up visits have been made to the Amazon Basin to help with technical issues and the challenges of water distribution. Bruce and I are returning to the area in early July 2010, to evaluate an orphanage that supports “lost boys” from Lima and a village founded by one of the indigenous peoples of Peru on the Moman River. In the USA, we are required to use individual home facilities; in other areas LWW is utilizing “batch” systems that can supply 400-500 people at a time. Our next follow-up trip to Peru will hopefully be in the fall at which time Beth and Suzanne Allen will accompany the “engineers” to “teach those who will teach” the actual users the value and techniques of clean water consumption.
Your Westminster team is greatly appreciative of the support the church has provided. It is estimated that water born diseases are responsible for the majority of infant deaths and 60% of hospital admissions world wide. Hopefully our ministry is making a small difference.
Many in the congregation have expressed an interest in learning more about Living Waters. Please email me your address so we can keep you informed. We anticipate expanding the team as funding allows. To learn more about Living Waters for the World visit their website at www.livingwatersfortheworld.org.
Peace, Terry Allen (tallen1939@gmail.com).
|
