Tearfund.

The Miracle of Safe Water.

‘Our children used to suffer from diarrhoea, dysentery, typhoid, cholera and other diseases – especially during the rain. Can anyone ever be happy with collecting drinking water from an area when there are other people defecating upstream?’

This was the grim reality of life for mother Gbonyana and the rest of the inhabitants of Karquekpo, a village in one of the most disadvantaged areas of Liberia.

Due to bad road conditions and broken bridges Karquekpo is almost completely inaccessible, meaning that people’s most basic needs, including safe water and sanitation, have been neglected.

The only source of water available in Karquekpo was a stream. A stream that people would defecate in. Gbonyana says, ‘I used to walk miles to fetch water from a very dirty stream and would come home very tired with contaminated water. There was no safe water available and we had to manage with what we could get.’

Destined for a better future
Tearfund partner AEL (The Association of Evangelicals) provided three water pumps and one motorised well for the people of Karquekpo. They also provided technical training so that the community would be able to maintain the equipment in the long term, without the need for any future assistance.

‘Now with safer water in place, we are destined for a better future,’ says Gbonyana. ‘This pump will really save lives. Our water collection time has reduced and fights for water are now history. Before this we thought there was no way out, but now we have hope that our community will receive more blessings.’

‘I believe it was God who worked this miracle for us. We had no hopes of getting safe water, thinking our children will always drink the dirty water and get sick, but God intervened and for this we are grateful’.

PLEASE PRAY

• Pray for provision for more wells in Karquekpo and the surrounding area, as there are still only enough for a third of the population.
• Thank God that Gbonyana and her family now have access to safe water, and pray that this will be a catalyst for further positive change in their lives.
• Pray that we never take things like safe water for granted, but do our best to look after this precious resource.