Feb. 19, 2010

Source: HCJB Global (written by Kay Burgi and Ralph Kurtenbach)

Abandoning computer keyboards for shovels and picks, an HCJB Global Voice team is representing the hands of Jesus in Ecuador, providing manual labor and clean spring water for a rural Quichua community high in the Andes.

"This is a great opportunity for a hands-on mission experience for many of our employees," said Geoff Kooistra who directs radio services at Radio Station HCJB in Quito.

Preparation for the project, which begins Monday, Feb. 22, in Lirio San José, a community in Chimborazo province, began weeks ago with individual and group fundraising.

Reporter Cristian Zurita washed cars when not writing and voicing newscasts. Kooistra baked caramel rolls which fellow staffers snapped up at their morning coffee break. Accountant Xavier Gallegos donated his earnings from tax preparation work. The team also staged a bake sale on the grounds of the radio station.

Others gave cash to help cover the seven-person team's living expenses while working alongside Clean Water Projects team members for six days in Lirio San José. At the dizzying altitudes of more than 13,000 feet, they will dig trenches, cook their own meals and sleep in camping tents set up inside a building.

Team members will work alongside local residents to protect the spring water source for the water system. Substantial renovations will improve the community's existing water distribution system. It will be implemented when the community is ready for that step and when funds are in hand to purchase the materials.

As with other water systems designed by the mission's Clean Water Projects team, community residents will enjoy an uninterrupted supply of clean water at each home after the installation is complete.

Urban office workers, volunteering to serve their rural fellowmen, stands in contrast to the normal social of professionals expecting to be served by laborers.

Lirio San José, a Quichua Indian community of 120 families, observed the water system completed by a neighboring community with HCJB Global's assistance, and then approached the Clean Water Projects team requesting their help.