Dear Friends and Family,
We had a great tour of the U.S. this summer visiting
friends, family, and supporting churches across quite a few states. Thank you so much for hosting us so
graciously as we traveled around the country.
It was great seeing old friends, meeting new ones, and sharing how God
is working in Bolivia. If you are new to our monthly newsletter, then bien venidos! We are now busy setting up mission teams for
trips to Bolivia this fall and next year.
We hope you will join us on this journey and help us share God’s love by
becoming a valuable partner in this ministry.
Agua Yaku Update
While we were traveling this summer, my Agua Yaku crew began
a new well drilling partnership/project with two local mission organizations,
the Baptist Convention of Bolivia and the Swiss Evangelical Mission. Marcos and his crew packed up the well
drilling equipment and headed up to the town of Riberalta, located about as far
north at you can go in Bolivia, right up next to Peru and Brazil—two full days
drive from Santa Cruz. The Baptist and
the Swiss mission have been working in this area for years, planting churches
and discipling new believers in the rural indigenous communities around
Riberalta.
Access to clean water has always been a top priority and a
huge need in this area. Local pastors
and community leaders asked the missionaries for help drilling water wells in
these remote communities. After contacting
Agua Yaku about the need, we began discussing the possibility of starting a
drilling project in the area this year.
We needed to act fast because it is only possible to get the drilling
equipment into these communities during the dry season months of July through
October.
This is where you come in! We need your financial help to
complete this project. We made the
commitment knowing that God would provide the means to get this done. We committed to drilling 65 household wells
(with manual handpumps installed) in 13 rural communities where these two
mission organizations are working. Fortunately,
groundwater is relatively shallow in this region and if we do not hit too much
rock, we should be able to find good water at a depth of 50 to 100 feet. If everything goes smoothly, we should be
drilling three to five wells a week.
Water well recipient families have agreed to help with labor,
to provide a meal or two, and to pay about Bs. 500 ($72.50 USD) to help cover
the costs of materials, but after we pay the full cost of materials, fuel,
travel expenses, salaries, mission admin fees, etc., the actual cost of each
well will be closer to $600 USD. We need
donations help cover the remaining $527.50 cost of each well we drill, or $34,287
USD to cover the cost of all 65 wells.
We will drill as many wells as we can, but we cannot drill
wells for every single family. Many residents
will continue to collect contaminated water from surface sources such as rain
water, shallow hand-dug wells, rivers and streams, and even stagnant livestock
ponds. We want to ensure that each
person has access to clean water regardless of whether they have their own
water well. Habitual use of water
filters helps ensure that each cup of water a child (or adult) drinks is clean
regardless of the original water source, and that it will not contribute to the
endemic problem of gastrointestinal disease that is so common throughout this
region. So, along with drilling water wells, Agua Yaku will also distribute
water filters and implement a WASH (water,
sanitation, and hygiene) training
program. Agua Yaku will donate water filters to schools, health posts, and
churches in each of these communities.
We will also offer filters for sale to families at a nominal subsidized
price. The cost for each filter distributed
is approximately $42.00 USD. We would
like to distribute at least 300 filters during this project in Riberalta. To reach this goal we need to raise
additional counterpart funding of $12,600 USD.
Combining the cost of water wells and filters, we need to
raise a total of $46,887 USD to cover our commitment to this project. Please consider being a part of the solution.
Help us share clean water and the love of Christ through word and deed with
these humble families. We have already
drilled over 20 wells in Riberalta in July and August, but we need your help to
take the project forward.
Stay tuned for an exciting update on our new AQUASIV water
filter in the coming weeks.
Blessings,
Danny
Danny
