Having access to clean water is essential for everyone. But for the people of the remote, tropical plains of Bolivia, it’s a necessity that can be hard to come by. Sadly, it is common for children there to get intestinal illnesses from dirty water, which can cause malnourishment and impede growth and development.
This year, Samaritan’s Purse has begun a project in the area of San Ignacio de Moxos in northern Bolivia to provide water, hygiene, and sanitation (WASH) resources to schools and communities. This is part of a wider range of activities we are starting in the area to meet people’s basic health needs and to minister to them in Jesus’ Name.
Our WASH program technicians distribute hygiene kits and water filters in schools and communities, training families on proper hygiene practices. The technicians make follow-up home visits where they have further opportunities to share the Gospel and pray with the families. They offer them Bibles as well as a Bible reading plan to help guide them through the Word.
Already, God has used the program in this area to lead eight people to faith in Him, including school district director Luz Mila Gutierrez Noco.
Elianay Loras Castro, our WASH program manager in Bolivia, visited Luz Mila’s home to ask her about setting up a water filter at a local school. As part of their conversation, Elianay asked if she could share the Gospel with her.
“Of course!” said Luz Mila, gathering her four children to listen to God’s Word.
Luz Mila regularly prays and reads the Bible, but she did not know how to find peace with God. “She felt that longing, but she didn’t know how to get closer to Him and how to know Him more,” Elianay said.
After hearing that Jesus had died for her sins and rose so that she could have a relationship with God, Luz Mila prayed to accept Christ.
“Thank you for reaching the people who need it,” Luz Mila said. “It is good to receive fountains of living water.”
The Bible says that Jesus told a Samaritan woman at a well that, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:13-14).
Pray for Luz Mila as she is discipled and grows in her faith, as well as for a nurse in the community and several teenagers who also have made decisions for Christ through our WASH program. Pray for our program technicians as they help families and communities in Jesus’ Name.
Save the life of a child or adult in a developing country by providing safe water along with health and hygiene education that will help protect them from deadly, but preventable, diseases. Simple and effective water filters, community wells and water storage solutions, and sanitation facilities can all drastically improve lives and open doors to share the eternal hope of Jesus Christ.