In the small community of rural Nakinyuguzzi, Uganda, the associates of Water Missions International and several members of the local community are working together to install a Living WaterTM Treatment System for the people of the area.

It is traditional for WMI to request light assistance from members of the community in which a water system will be installed. The efforts exerted bond the members of the community ever more strongly to their results, here exemplified perfectly in the clean, pure, safe drinking water that is the outcome of WMI’s presence in Nakinyuguzzi. In the case of this community, local residents are helping to load and unload the trucks on which the compact water system apparatus arrived, dig a sump (a cistern) and small trenches for the cables and water pipes, and participate in the training of the use and maintenance of the Living WaterTM Treatment System.

The need for the water treatment system was great, as residents of the Nakinyuguzzi community previously struggled and risked injury fetching water from a local pond that contained unsafe drinking water in the first place. Children often had to come up with ways to carefully remove water from this pond, which had elevated, slippery walls. Other local sources of water were comparatively safer but featured water no less unsanitary and unhealthy. Children often played in this same water. Those children too young to carry the plastic jugs filled with water had to drag them along the ground with a cord back to their homes, regardless of the distance.

Local members of the community participated in the safe water committee meeting held to illustrate the effects of the Living WaterTM Treatment System and how to use the systems safely and maintain them over an extended period of time. After an initial prayer, WMI associates discussed any questions the members of the community had. In addition to the assistance provided, members of the community provided a piece of land for the system and helped to build an enclosure to protect the water system.

Although not the primary focus of Water Missions International, the staff at Nakinyuguzzi were also able to offer 500 members of the community and surrounding area the “Living Water” message of Jesus Christ in the form of five separate puppet shows enjoyed by young and old alike over the course of a few days. The show offered the community the message of love and hope present in Christ’s teachings.

The Living WaterTM Treatment Systems are surprisingly easy and quick to install, especially with the energetic help of willing and excited members of communities like Nakinyuguzzi.