One of the participants in our Water and A Baptismal Life course works with those who are interested in providing clean water in places where it is not suitable for drinking. Some of these locations are in developing nations, but there a few in the United States as well. Jeff worked for a big corporation but was let go as a result of a corporate merger and a struggling economy. He signed on with Living Waters for the World and told me that while he makes a lot less money he is getting deep satisfaction in his work. http://www.livingwatersfortheworld.org/LWWPO_mission.php
As he described these projects I thought about Native communities here in Canada. It is an embarassment and an injustice that some of these communities have been evacuated for a time because the water meant for drinking and bathing is so badly contaminated. I wondered if Christian communities such as ours could get involved in a water project in our country. Jeff pointed out that schools often get involved, as well as churches. He also mentioned that Rotary International has sponsored more than 800 clean water projects through different organizations. http://purewaterfortheworld.org/rotary/rotary-connection/
There is a Canadian organization called Ryan's Well which was started by a child who was determined to raise money for a well in Uganda. http://www.ryanswell.ca/
I would love for us to become involved in a water project at St. Paul's. Some of you may remember that we did raise $2500 for an irrigation project for a Christian hospital in Kenya a few years ago. Wouldn't it be great if we could figure out a collaboration between local churches, local schools, and our local Rotary Club.
Any thoughts?
"Ryan's and Jimmy's Well" is a children's book which was on the Silver Birch program in the past (a reading program sponsored by the Ontario Library Association where students read from a selection of Canadian books-www.accessola.com and vote on their favourite book). Since that book is in most schools many of our teachers have read it to students. Our Grade 6 class this year, read it while covering the topic of Social Justice and instead of giving their teacher a gift at Christmas, they all donated to the Ryan's Well Foundation.
ReplyDeleteAs a Rotarian my father has visited some of the Rotarian clean water projects in Brazil. (Rotary likes to see if their $ is being used for what it is supposed to be used for)
I think your idea is great, maybe some of our youth might take this on as an ISU (Independent Study Unit) in the fall. Just a thought.
I figured there would be a well informed teacher who could comment on this. Thanks Nancy.
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