(March 21, 2014 - by Ruth Pike)  A small, bare field with a spectacular view of rolling hills—this remote Ecuadorian community was not exactly as I had imagined it. For one thing, there were no houses. For another, the tiny plot of land looked far too small for 30 families to live on. Why had these people asked for help with a clean water project when they had no houses and so little space for them?

As the Vozandes Community Development team from Reach Beyond (formerly HCJB Global) met with representatives from the Andean community of Mariana de Jesús in Bolívar province, they shared their story with us.

About five years ago, this group of people, mainly working in agriculture and renting rooms, were identified as a poor community, and they were encouraged to buy a plot of land. Once they had the land, they were told that they would be given houses and water.

Having saved up and pooled together a significant amount of money relative to their incomes, they bought the land and asked for houses. “To get houses, you must have water,” they were told. So they tried to get water. “To get water, you must have houses.”

They went through the process of getting legal rights to a water source, but that water turned out to be contaminated, meaning that any clean water project would be extremely costly. Caught in a vicious circle, they spent about five years trying to find a solution to the problem.

During that time, they learned about Reach Beyond through Martha Craymer, one of our missionary nurses based in the nearby town of Chillanes. She has had a long-established ministry among women and young people in the community. They asked whether we could help them, and after assessing the community, we were glad to be able to assist.

Following a successful meeting at SENAGUA (Ecuadorian Secretariat of Water) to complete legal requirements, Craymer said, “The community’s enthusiasm and excitement to see this actually coming to pass was so evident. The president [of the community’s water committee] thanked me for going with them, and I said that we needed to thank the Lord.”

After visits from our engineers to identify a suitable clean water source and encourage the community to proceed with building houses, work was ready to begin at the start of this year. Craymer held a training session on latrine construction at the community’s request, and our team began surveying in order to design a clean water system for the community.

Normally, most of the people in this community work long hours in the fields, sowing, growing and harvesting crops such as corn, broad beans and kidney beans. Periods of heavy rain and extreme weather conditions like El Niño can wipe out an entire harvest, severely affecting the farmers’ livelihood.

They took time out from this backbreaking work to participate in surveying for the clean water project. Early each day, work began. It was a race against time as thick fog set in by afternoon, or sometimes even by mid-morning, shrouding all visibility in hazy layers of white clouds.

After a morning’s work we would be invited in for lunch with one of the families from the community, experiencing their generous hospitality but also gaining a glimpse into their humble existence.

One day, as I sat on a wooden bench eating my way through a huge bowl of bean soup followed by a generous helping of chicken and rice, I looked around the home of our hostess. It consisted of a single room, sparsely furnished with cardboard boxes near the walls, two beds for at least five people and a handful of other possessions such as school bags hanging on nails. Plastic sheets covered open windows. The concrete block walls were unpainted, and the mud floor made the concrete floors (awaiting installation of carpet) in the home where my husband and I are living in Chillanes, look luxurious.

In the corner of the room, a 19-year-old girl with a radiant smile on her face rocked a crying baby in a makeshift hammock—an image of new life and hope amid hardship and a reminder of the greater hope and new life needed by these thirsty souls.

“We pray that through this project many will hear and come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior, the one who gives true living water that satisfies the soul,” said Sheila Leech, vice president of international healthcare. She made the comment during a recent visit to Chillanes, reflecting on the start of the project.

That’s food for thought—or rather water for thought—as we commemorate World Water Day on Saturday, March 22, thanking God for His provision of physical clean water and spiritual living water, and to pray for those who lack both.

Since 1988 our community development team has helped more than 100 rural Ecuadorian communities build water systems, installed some 500 well hand pumps, built more than 1,000 latrines and conducted countless training seminars in managing water for local community leaders.

In the next year, team members will continue helping communities across Ecuador—both in jungle and mountainous regions—gain access to clean water. Pioneering work is also under way with local partners in Ghana, Nepal and Central Asia to develop water projects.

Many of these communities are on the fringe of society. Frequently suffering from waterborne diseases and parasites, residents are motivated to work for their own water systems. People in communities such as Mariana de Jesús, with a little support, can see hope that they could only dream of before.

To view a graphic on World Water Day, visit http://www.gmi.org/infographics/missiographic-World-Water-Day.jpg.

Source: Reach Beyond