This is a great story. I've been here less than 2 weeks and already our organization has been thrust into the middle of an incredible opportunity to serve. In the village of Hongor, not far from my city of Darkhan, there was a recent incident that contaminated part of its well water supply. A Chinese mining company dumped some toxic waste on the ground and contaminated their well water with sodium cyanide and mercury. It killed some of the livestock, and the people were warned not to use the water. The city officials' plan was to have clean water trucked into town from the Darkhan water utility. Unfortunately, the town of Hongor had no money, so the utility wouldn't bring the water. After a week of no water, the people started drawing water from the contaminated well, despite posted warning signs not to do so (see first picture).
Our ministry is very involved in the community, so as soon as we became aware of the situation, we met with the city officials to see how we could help. They were desperate for help (why the Mongolian national goverment wouldn't help is beyond me), so we took a step of faith to start paying for daily water deliveries indefinitely. In the meantime, we already have other plans in place to work on cleaning up the contamination. Scientists and engineers from Baylor University are heading here later this month to volunteer their services.
The cost of providing this water is incredibly small, considering the life-sustaining necessity of it. For $100 per day, we are providing drinking and washing water to approximately 5,400 people. This was not in our budget so we're trusting that God will provide the finances. Even if we have to put some of our other projects on hold, this was an obvious and easy decision.
The pictures show a woman drawing water from the contaminated well despite posted warnings signs; me helping pour water from the first water truck (cheesy, I know); and some of the cute village kids. None of them have anything larger than a medium/large bucket, so they usually have to make several trips. Now don't you know we have an awesome opportunity to share with them about the Living Water of Jesus? While standing at their new "well?"
3 comments:
Wow, that is so amazing!! And I agree, God will provide the finances, but I hope that a better, long term solution is possible for these people. It's unbelievable what we take for granted, isn't it?
Your sister shared your blog with me and I wanted to say WOW! What an important thing for you to be involved! Thanks for sharing your adventure with us! KF
What an opportunity, physical and spiritual! How do I send $100 for one day?
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