Wednesday, June 30, 2010

At Last, Clean Water!

It’s been over 50 years since Okinawa was established in the countryside of eastern Bolivia – which now has schools, hospitals, and churches – even Internet! But clean drinking water was never a high priority.  The locals use the water straight from the tap without any purification or filtration system, making bacteria, viruses, and parasites easily transmitted throughout the community.

Having the privilege of living here for the past 10 months, I can attest for myself that living with bouts of amebic dysentery or “bichos” makes life at times seem unbearable, but you’d never hear that from them.  For many, becoming sick and dealing with fighting diseases is just part of life.  Recently I was asked to record the medical needs for the surrounding poor communities – every community suffered from dysentery and other diseases as a result of poor sanitation and unclean drinking water. 

That’s now changing – a group from Missouri called, “Living Waters” came in June and installed a water filtration system in the heart of my little school.  The group of four, led by Ron, built the entire system and then lead classes teaching the volunteers as well as the locals how to maintain a clean system and what the clean water should be used for: drinking, cooking, brushing teeth, and cleaning little babies.  

The idea of using “clean water” is slowly taking affect – the nuns no longer have to buy big jugs of purified water from the city and for the first time the interñas (the little boarding school girls) get clean water too, just yesterday they were playing and laughing at the little bubbles the water dispenser makes! :) 

“A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” John 4:7