WHI and Fishers Rotary Club meet with His Excellency the President of Sierra Leone. (Photo courtesy of WHI)
Sierra Leone (MNN) ― A group of people from the Rotary Club from Fishers, Indiana, in the United Sates traveled to Sierra Leone in late November to observe the work World Hope International does to provide safe drinking water for villages there. By the end of the trip, the group made a commitment to play a large role in that work.
"I think that the experience of seeing the difference, the practical difference, that water makes, solidified for them an amazing goal," said David Erickson, COO of WHI, who was on the trip. "They're just one Rotary Club, but they have embraced the goal of raising enough funds to drill 100 wells in Sierra Leone over the next 2 years. And that will make a life-and-death difference in the lives of 70,000 people in that impoverished country."
The Rotary Club is a civic organization, not a religious organization. One member of the group was the pastor of an Indianapolis church that already had funded some wells through WHI. On the trip, the whole group had the opportunity to see the love of Christ tangibly demonstrated through World Hope International's high-quality work.
"Part of what they experienced...was the difference that our commitment to Sierra Leone and our motivation make in the quality of our work," Erickson explained. He referred specifically to "the ways that we connect with the community and build relationships with them; the quality of the wells that we drill and the pumps that we install; and the ways that we train people to get maximum benefit through good hygiene training, and nutrition training... Entering the community in that spirit gives tremendous credibility."
The group also had the opportunity to meet with the president of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma. Koroma thanked WHI and the Rotary Club for their work providing clean water for the people of his country.
"He said that less than 30% of the population of Sierra Leone has access to clean, safe water," Erickson said. "And he said, 'We are working as a nation to build infrastructure and create opportunity. But if people don't have safe water, enterprise, opportunity, work, education, and health--everything suffers.'"
The difference made by clean water was obvious as the group visited villages that have received reliable new wells and villages that need them. One village elder explained that the hygiene training and well provided by WHI have protected his community from a cholera outbreak in the area.
Wells also change the lives of many young girls, allowing them to attend school because they no longer have to spend much of their time collecting water for the family. Clean water also dramatically impacts the ability of mothers to care for their children and keep them healthy.
WHI works in five African countries: Sierra Leone, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Nigeria. It plans to drill 220 wells in 2010. Your support can help change the lives of thousands forever.
"There are people who are suffering now because they don't have access to safe water," Erickson said. "They are begging God to meet their needs...and in amazing ways, God invites us to be part of His answer to their prayers. This season as we celebrate God's goodness and great gift to us, we have this amazing opportunity...to respond to God's generosity toward us with gifts to other people."
