An Urgent Need Today

One of our Board Members, Kaitlyn Miller, shares about our urgent need today and a story from 2012.

In the summer of 2012 I witnessed one of the most joyful days I have ever seen. I was an intern for Circle of Hope International in Malawi and that day, thanks to partnerships and preparation, clean water came to our district for the FIRST TIME! There were celebrations for HOURS: choirs, ribbon cuttings, singing, and huge smiles! The kids carried pipes with pure joy and anticipation of connecting them and having water in multiple outlets on our campus.

You don’t know what you have until you witness others joy at something you take for granted. The river near our community did not have drinking quality water and the hand wells were shallow and also not safe or readily accessible. The well genuinely changed daily life for hundreds, if not thousands, of people and I had never gone to bed more humbled or full of joy than that day at 21 years old.

Today, our well is 10 years old and has run into issues. The world has continued to develop and our campus has thrived over the years but the NEED for clean water is very much a real and present/ emergent need for this community, and everyone around the world.

Last week, the control box on our main water pump broke. When we connected the repaired box to the pump we found that it still wasn't pumping water. When the technicians pulled the pump from the well, they found it was deeply buried in mud, not sitting in water. We are flushing (cleaning) the well now so we can access the casing and find out what we are working with.

If cleaning the well works, we need to raise $4,500 to cover the costs.

If it doesn't work, it is going to cost an additional $3,500 to drill a new well.

If you want to contribute to this with me you can at

https://cohcommunity.org/donate

with the designation of “well”.

It’s hard, in our culture, to consider daily life without access to clean drinking water. We have irrigation for crops and a surplus of drinking options anywhere we go. I have a giant cup of ice water with me all day long… today it’s reminding me of what to pray for and how to use my own resources.