From the Hills of Burundi: a Story of Safe Water and the Gospel
December 10, 2014
As one member of the community described, “It takes about one hour to collect water from the spring at the bottom of the hills as they are so steep and slippery. We literally crawl to the spring.”
For most visitors to Water Missions International headquarters, the photo of a child walking up a steep hill carrying water in a rural village in Burundi could have been taken anywhere, representing the trek that millions of women and children make for hours each day to fetch water. But for Paster Chris Ndikumana, an unexpected visitor to Water Missions headquarters in September, it was a reminder of home. “I’ve been there,” Pastor Chris said emphatically. “I’ve seen this project!”
As a leader for Aid Project Burundi (a Christian non-profit that helps to spread the word of God throughout Africa), Pastor Chris lives in Burundi and preaches the gospel there. He first visited Katobo in 2009 and the poverty he saw in the community was overwhelming. He observed the challenges that people faced in collecting water first hand. “The journey to collect water was so long and hard,” Pastor Chris explained, “it was difficult to go down the hill and back, you know, and some people couldn’t make it.” He described how children (some as young as 5 years old) struggled to carry heavy water buckets over a long distance, and that in the rainy season, many families suffered from not being able to make the journey to get water at all. Even worse, the water that the residents walked so far to collect was not clean or safe to drink.
“Kids were dying, people were dying of many sicknesses because of dirty water,” Pastor Chris shared, his face solemn.
In 2010, through a partnership with Harvest for Christ Ministries, Water Missions International implemented a Living Water™ Treatment System (LWTS™) in Katobo and provided health and hygiene training for the approximately 1,000 local residents.
Pastor Chris provided a testament to the transformation that occurred in Katabo after safe water was provided. “Once clean water became available to the community, “it was a huge difference,” he explained, “for example, an average of six kids were dying every month.” Pastor Chris went on to say that now the village loses less than one child per year. With the children and other residents becoming healthier, they have more time and energy to do other things. “It’s helped them to get a better life than before,” Pastor Chris said.
As a Christian leader, Pastor Chris also explained how the work of Water Missions International creates the opportunity for pastors, such as himself to spread the word of God to people in remote and often “untouched areas.” “When you bring in this [the clean water], it’s not only preaching Jesus – you’re doing good works, and [the people] can see you saving lives, and it’s easy to preach them the gospel.”
From the hills of Burundi to the office in Charleston, South Carolina, Water Missions International is doing more than just bringing access to clean water. In the words of Pastor Chris “Water Missions is helping them [the people of Katobo] to live longer on earth and to get access to eternal life after death.”
Written by Betsy Henderson and Julie Johnson. Photography contributed by Tara Jones and Marylou Springer.
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