Water is Life

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Hello world!

When was the last time you took a shower? Not a hot shower and shower! Just any shower?

My last time must have been a month back. We do have splash down with a cup of water every second day or so.

The streets are lined with children and women with containers in hand. They are in search of that essential substance that one uses for cleaning one's house and body (inside and out) - water. Our water situation has become so bad we only receive a trickle of water. Today we couldn't even manage to fill one 25 liter container.

Water is life... this is no longer a cliche for us. It is a reality. Without water one can do very little.

On Friday (2 Sept) I convened a meeting of all the Pastors in the area. We discussed the situation and wrote an open letter sharing our concern of the suffering of the people. But we did not stop there. We proposed that each informal settlement (who has not had water for all six months - not a drop) receive a 10 000 water tank each. We will hire a water tanker and fill these with water and sell to the public at cost or close. ADRA-Africa has donated US$2000.00 toward this and we hope to receive a good response from the British High Commission. Pam called today and they are negotiating a possible discount and will pay the suppliers directly. Yesterday we discovered that the government department we were relying upon to collect and deliver the water for us do not have a water tanker (it has been in the repair shop for 12 months). We face crisis in supplying the water. So make this a matter of prayer.

Yesterday we took our letter to al the relevant government departments. We waited two hours at the town council as they were hesitant to accept us. Today I met the town clerk who was not present yesterday and shared with him that we are only concerned and would like to assist where we can. He promised me that by Friday the crisis will be over - let's hope so. We will still need tanks in some areas as they do not receive a constant supply of water and taps are only in certain people's yards - those who are close to the pipeline. So the tanks will not be wasted.

Involving all the different Christian faiths has also been a blessing. To see how they all rallied around the idea as for us to involve them has really spoken volumes for building community. On Friday we gave letters to each Church to donate N$50.00 toward the project. On Monday I met a lady at the Roman Catholic Church and she said; "Are you the one who will bring our water back?" It is our first time to work with the Catholic Church and even one or two others.

That is our life circumstances. Have a blessed weekend.


Gideon & Pam