This is a true story about a village where Myra’s Wells has recently drilled a well.
We cannot give the detail that we would normally give. None of the pictures are at this village – they are just for illustration. But we have the joy of knowing that this is another place where there is now safe, clean water in Burkina Faso.
Here are two pictures of what open wells look like. If there is nothing better, at least they will provide some water. Not necessarily all the year round, perhaps only after it has rained. And not necessarily clean and safe to drink. The village in the story had an old well similar to this. The water is usually obtained from the well using buckets and a piece of rope or string.
This next picture illustrates the way that many ladies carry their babies around. The babies are tied to the mother’s back using a piece of cloth – see the lady on the right with the orange top. This is where the story commences.
Here is why we want to provide safe, clean water in Burkina Faso.
One of the ladies went to draw water from the open well with her baby on her back. As she bent over the well to let down the bucket, the unthinkable happened – the baby fell into the well. The mother jumped in to try to save the baby. The other villagers managed to pull them both out, but the baby had already died and the mother died three days later. It is a story like this that is enough to spur us on to providing safe, clean water in Burkina Faso by drilling deep boreholes. Not only are they safe to use, the water itself is also safe.
This village now has a borehole that we drilled, together with the usual pump. But many other villages still have just the open well.
So, we want to continue to provide safe, clean water in Burkina Faso.
But that is not all ..
There is another reason which also spurs us on. The new well in this village is a focal point where an evangelist is able to tell the people about the Lord Jesus. It was Jesus himself who spoke of “living water” which “springs up into eternal life”. The Imam at the small mosque in the village heard what the evangelist was saying and started to think. He came to realise that he needed God’s forgiveness, as we all do, and that could only happen because of the death on the cross and resurrection of Jesus. He became a Christian. Now, he wants to tell others about Jesus and, after studying the Bible, he has become the pastor of the little church in the self-same village.
Safe, clean water in Burkina Faso is having a bigger impact on peoples’ lives than just giving them physical water. It is helping them to find spiritual life as well.
Maybe you can help us to provide safe, clean water in Burkina Faso?
Myra’s Wells is dedicated to helping as many people as possible to have safe, clean water in Burkina Faso. To help us achieve that, we are grateful to all our donors. We promise that every penny given will be used in wells projects. The Trustees personally fund all other costs. To see how to help us, please click here to see our “How to Donate” page.
