Clean Water for Congo's Students

Great news! The water catchment project for the Pinson School in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is complete. The project serves close to 1,200 students at this school, including many children sponsored by Exile International, an organization restoring rescued child soldiers and children orphaned by war through art-focused trauma care & holistic rehabilitation.

“The timing of this project is so symbolic and representative of God’s goodness. Water points directly to life and hope—wonderful gifts from God,” says Jared Palmitier, managing director at Exile International. “Completing this project with the Living Water Project now, during the COVID-19 pandemic, has not only met an essential human need for many … it has brought much needed encouragement and hope!” 

The Living Water Project (TLWP) is proud to be a partner of Exile International and excited to complete our 5th clean water project together—collectively bringing clean, life-giving water to thousands. TLWP was able to donate the new catchment system thanks in large part to funds provided by Otter Creek Church of Christ’s legendary consignment sale.

The Pinson School is currently not holding classes because of the pandemic, but we hope and pray it will open again soon. In the meantime, the catchment system will be a source of clear water for the surrounding community, which includes many of the students, teachers and families connected to the school. 

The project will even help safeguard these men, women and children from COVID-19. How? Rather than traveling several kilometers to obtain drinking water, which would increase their potential exposure, they will have a local source of water … thus decreasing their need to travel and decreasing their exposure. Yet another reason to celebrate!

A Letter From Guatemala

‘In Solidarity With You’: Looking to the Future With Our Worldwide Partners

The Living Water Project is proud of our partnerships that help bring clean water to the rural mountain villages of Guatemala. Though the work in Guatemala is now on hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we continue to be in communication with our local partner, Adicay, a nonprofit engineering organization based in Alta Verapaz in the heart of the Ulpan Valley. We help fund and study projects spearheaded by Adicay along with Lipscomb University’s Peugeot Center for Engineering Service in Developing Communities and KnoxProCorps, a Knoxville, Tennessee-based engineering nonprofit group. “Being able to connect with professionals in the local communities who speak the local language and know the culture helps to open doors and get clean water projects done faster,” says Jon Lee, president of TLWP’s board of directors.

Adicay’s leader, Ana Cal Choc, recently sent the Living Water Project a message about how COVID-19 is affecting the region. She also affirmed her commitment to future projects once the challenges of the pandemic have been overcome. Her letter is a poignant reminder that what we are experiencing in the United States right now is a worldwide event—and that we’re all in this battle together.

Dear Living Water Project friends:

I hope that you and your family will be well, as far as possible, in the midst of so much tragedy due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We maintain faith and hope that we will get out of this difficult situation very soon. I appreciate that despite everything, you take the time to support us emotionally and financially. Thank you. God will reward you for the good works you do.

In Alta Verapaz, currently we are still under orders to stay at home, which is why I think that the number of cases has not increased further.

We are confident that after this difficult situation is over, we will be able to cover the days of delay in the field. We are optimistic and are committed to the new projects despite the uncertainty that exists.

Though we believe that we can execute new projects, we are enormously worried about the shortage of future funds. We know that after the pandemic, our communities will have greater need and their health will be at risk if they do not have potable water services. I am sure that together we will be a light at the end of the tunnel for these communities.

We believe that if we are united with our partners on the same objectives, we will be able to achieve these future projects. We are hoping to have your support. We are in solidarity with you, your families and the donors who have subsidized past projects.

Thank you very much for your good wishes to the ADICAY staff. Kind regards, a big hug and many blessings.

-Ana

2019 Living Water Project Year in Review

This was TWLP’s 19th year of partnering with communities around the world to provide clean water. As of the end of 2019, this ministry has funded a total of 546 wells/clean-water projects in 25 different countries. These projects represent more than $1.5 million committed to clean water development since our founding in 2000.

In 2019 TWLP funded a total of 97 new wells/clean-water projects, with a total of $317,066 committed to these projects. This is an all-time single-year LWP record. The breakdown of projects by country is as follows:

Liberia: 20 
Nicaragua: 20
Togo: 15
Ghana: 14 
Zambia: 10
Cameroon: 6
Chad: 5
Malawi: 4, plus funds for hydrogeological survey
Guatemala: 1
Democratic Republic of the Congo: 1
Uganda: 1

A total of approximately $310,000 was donated to TWLP this year, representing a 5% increase from 2018’s total of $294,480, our previous record year. This total amount is also an all-time single-year LWP record. As always, these milestones were accomplished while the organization is still being completely run by volunteers.

We are thankful for a decade of significant and steady growth. For some historical perspective, consider the following two graphs. One shows donations received per year from 2013 to 2019, and the other shows total dollars committed to clean water per year over these same years.

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We would like to also extend gratitude to the wonderful on-ground well/ministry coordinators who made this work possible:

Liberia: Alfred Beyan
Nicaragua: David Shelton, TJ McCloud
Togo: Nestor Abalo
Ghana: Paul Partey
Zambia: Shadreck Sibwalu
Cameroon: Dr. Samuel Doungous, Issa Keitoumar
Chad: Pastor Samba Paul, Issa Keitoumar
Malawi: Joseph Faison
Guatemala: ADICAY (Guatemala-based nonprofit)
Democratic Republic of the Congo: Jared Palmitier
Uganda: Jared Palmitier

Thank you to our supporters for generously giving of your time and money! We are looking forward to a great 2020.

—Jon Lee, LWP president

Time for the annual Living Water Project Bracket Challenge!

It’s March, and the Madness is back. Your entry into our unique NCAA Tournament bracket pool will help provide clean, life-giving water around the world. Bill Rieder of Brentwood, TN has won the past two years. Can he make it a three-peat in 2019?

The LWP Bracket Challenge winner will have the privilege of honoring a loved one through a 2019 Living Water Project well. 

To enter:
Make a $20 donation PER BRACKET (5 bracket max) via www.livingwaterwells.org/donate to enter the contest.  Larger gifts are always welcomed.  All proceeds benefit the Living Water Project, and will go toward construction of life-giving wells.
IMPORTANT: Please put "Bracket Challenge" in the Add Special Instructions To The Seller blank on PayPal.

….then proceed to http://livingwater.mayhem.cbssports.com/ to enter your picks. The brackets lock on Thursday, March 21st at 11:00 am CST. 

Questions?  Contact Jon Lee at jlee@livingwaterwells.org

Good luck, and thanks for playing!

End of Year Giving

THE GIFT OF WATER

It keeps our Christmas trees green, boils sweet potatoes for the casseroles, and it makes chocolate into a delicious hot drink.  We turn the faucet, and there it is. Clean and fresh. Instantaneous. But many are not so blessed.

More than 1 in 10 of our global neighbors lack ready access to clean water.  For them, getting water means carrying 5 gallons at a time, bucket perched on their head, for miles, everyday.  That water is often not clean, but drawn from a source that carries disease and parasites. It is mostly the women and girls doing the lifting and carrying, taking them away from opportunities for school and work.   

Together, we can bring good tidings of great joy to some of these neighbors.  The Living Water Project works with local Christian ministry partners who help us place wells and water sources where they are needed most.  Those ministers bring the good news of Jesus to the same people receiving the good news of life-giving water. These projects are dug and built by local tradesmen, delivering water for, on average, $9 per person.  That modest amount can save a life from death, sickness, blindness, and disease, just by providing what we take for granted. Every penny of your donation goes to water projects because we are completely volunteer-run.  

This year, Living Water is working in more than a dozen countries in Africa and Central America.  We have plenty of opportunities to put your gifts to work. Here’s how you can help -

  • Year-End Generosity.  Generously include Living Water in your giving this year.  We are a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, so your donations are tax deductible.

  • Monthly Giving.  Sign up to be a monthly donor.  We can facilitate an automatic gift that will share your generosity all year long.  This year, we set a goal of ending 2018 with 33 monthly donors. We currently have 19.  Help us meet our goal!

  • Give the Gift of Water.  Make a donation to Living Water to honor someone on your Christmas list. 

  • Corporate Gifts.  Talk to your business, employer, or church about making a gift to Living Water.  We have corporate partners who honor their commitment to mission, social justice, and honoring their people by sharing the gift of clean water.

  • Amazon Smile.  Designate Living Water as your charity of choice on Amazon Smile.  Here’s how.  Every dollar you spend on Amazon, when you shop through smile.amazon.com (same stuff, same prices as Amazon without the smile) results in a donation to the charity you designate.  

Your giving will change lives.  Please join us. We promise good stewardship of every gift.  


TLWP Partner Spotlight: Alfred Beyan & Liberia

When people ask us how the Living Water Project thrives by an all-volunteer model, the answer is simple: We have outstanding, dedicated local partners in every country where we’re active.  The newest of these partners is Alfred Beyan, who lives in Monrovia, Liberia.  After being introduced to Alfred through a common acquaintance in 2016, it immediately became clear that he is passionate about reaching the people of Liberia with not only clean water, but also serving various other ways and bringing the Gospel of Jesus.  

Alfred works with a team of evangelists who go all over Liberia, having to trudge through jungle-like terrain to reach some remote villages.  Since our partnership with him began in October 2017, Alfred has overseen the completion of five new LWP wells in villages where he and his team serve. This October he identified five more villages in dire need of clean water, and construction is already well underway on three of those wells. 

One of the initial five Liberia wells constructed in July 2018 was in the village of Wee Town.  These pictures show the dirty stream the community had been using for drinking, cooking and cleaning, and the newly completed well bringing forth clean water.  After returning from praying and dedicating this well to the village, Alfred remarked, “I give God the glory that this well is finished.  I actually shed tears when I saw the water they had been drinking, cooking and washing with.”

The Living Water Project is grateful for Alfred, and for his hard work and dedication to serve the people of Liberia in the name of Jesus.  When you think of the Living Water Project, remember Alfred and our other local partners  - the “hands and feet of Jesus” that make this work possible.

Written by TWLP Director of Operations, Jon Lee

Local children gather water from the only water source they had prior to the well.

Local children gather water from the only water source they had prior to the well.

Happy children rejoice in their new well. Partners like Alfred Beyan advocate for to TLWP for their communities in need of clean water.

Happy children rejoice in their new well. Partners like Alfred Beyan advocate for to TLWP for their communities in need of clean water.

Give the Gift of Clean Water this Giving Tuesday!

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70% of our earth is covered in it.

65% of our bodies are made of it.

Yet, more than 1 in 10 of our global neighbors don’t have reliable access to clean water.

This giving Tuesday, won’t you join Living Water in giving the gift of clean water?

For Americans, clean, fresh water is abundant. We pay the bill, turn the tap, and it pours out— about 100 gallons a day for those of us in the United States. But many other countries do not have such access. In many places, our neighbors are dipping water from sources that carry river blindness, giardia, guinea worm, and other parasites and diseases. They then carry that water, sometimes for miles, 5 gallons at a time. It’s no wonder that they live on only 3.5 gallons a day. (That’s how much Americans flush in one or two trips to the bathroom!)

The lack of clean water and accompanying poor sanitation hit our youngest neighbors the hardest. Every year, more than 700,000 children ages 5 and under die from preventable diseases caused by lack of clean water. It hits our female neighbors hardest of all, particularly in places where they’re responsible for collecting water for the entire family. Such a time-intensive daily task makes it hard for them to go to school.

The good news? Living Water can bring water to these neighbors. Our large network of ministry partners alerts us to places that lack this life-giving resource, so we know where the needs are. We have drilling and construction partners who employ crews in-country to dig the wells and build the projects. We also employ an efficient process that allows us to complete these projects affordably. On average, our projects bring clean water at a cost of $9 per person.

$9 keeps our neighbor from catching a crippling or blinding parasite from a stream. It keeps infants and toddlers from fatal diarrhea. It frees girls to attend school. It frees all individuals from worry over a daily need, elevating the life and culture of the community.

Living Water currently has opportunities to provide wells in more than a dozen countries in Africa and Central America, and others will surely arise—like last year’s typhoon relief in the Philippines. Will you partner with us financially to bring clean water to our global neighbors?

Please give generously. Our organization is all volunteer-run, so your gift goes directly to clean water projects—to the gift of life.

TLWP Annual Dinner 2018 Results!

WHAT A NIGHT!
Thanks to our generous donors, our recent annual dinner raised $60,000!  TLWP board wasted no time in committing those funds to clean water. This week, we approved wells in Liberia, Cameroon, and Chad (like the one below in Chagoua). We also approved a well maintenance program alongside our partners in the region. If you weren't able to attend the dinner, it's not too late to give! (Click here to donate). Your donations will be turned into clean water in the coming months. Thanks again for partnering with us!

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