RSSMay 23, Easter VII
by the Rev. Barbara Cawthorne Crafton for ERD
5/23/2004
Acts 16:16-34 or 1 Samuel 12:19-24
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20 or Acts 16:16-34
John 17:20-26
Psalm 68:1-20 or 47
Come to the Water
We would think them very beautiful, the girls of Nicaragua, if we were to see them standing in the river, washing clothes. Or walking along the road, beautiful and graceful, balancing buckets of water perfectly on their heads as they walk home from the water‘s edge. How picturesque, we might say, and we would grab our cameras to capture the pretty sight.
But a bucket of water weighs forty pounds. And some of their homes are a mile or two from the river. And the water in which they stand and wash clothes is also the water they drink. And also the water in which human and animal waste is dumped. And some of the girls are very young, too young to carry such a heavy load without damaging their half-grown bones. And if they have to carry water several times a day, they can’t go to school.
Picturesque? Maybe to us. But ask their mothers how picturesque it is to them.
Episcopal Relief and Development works with El Porvenir, a Nicaraguan community health organization that seeks to educate people about wise use of water and proper sanitation. Together with the people who will use them, they build water wells, pit latrines, and central wash stations, and they teach people how to avoid contaminating their own water supply in simple ways: Wash your hands after using the latrine and before you cook dinner. Cover the well. Add chlorine to the drinking water. Things anybody can do, right now.
So the price of drinking water in rural Nicaraguan communities will no longer be disease, neck and back injury or missed educational opportunity. All they’ll have to do is go to the well.
Episcopal Relief and Development is an effective, reliable, and vital ministry of the Episcopal Church in communities around the world. Episcopal Relief and Development provides emergency assistance in times of disaster, rebuilds devastated communities after the immediate crisis is over, and offers long-term solutions to help people sustain safer, healthier, and more productive lives.
