We love Lifewater and are really looking forward to volunteering with them in Zambia this summer as sanitation trainers. They have a great staff of knowledgeable people who believe all people have a right to safe water, effective sanitation, and improved health. Lifewater is a Christian training organization that feels that solutions to the global water and sanitation crisis come from within local communities as people take the responsibility for their own water sources in an effort to improve community health. The missing link is education. To close the gap Lifewater has trained about 250 North American volunteers (like us) who travel to other countries to train national partners. The national partners take their new skills and education to those who most need them, helping to break the cycle of disease and poverty. These partners are Christians who also share the gospel message of living water with the communities where they work. Partners are most often churches that are demonstrating God’s compassion while meeting both spiritual and physical needs in their communities. Since 1979, Lifewater and their partners have brought safe water to an estimated 1.4 million people. Lifewater trainers generally focus on one of three areas:
• Water – drilling wells, repairing hand pumps, and filtering water
• Hygiene – education on hand washing, food preparation, disease transmission
• Sanitation – proper disposal of human waste
Of these programs sanitation is the newest; we are part Lifewater’s first class of sanitation trainers.
Incidently, if you are interested in learning more about Lifewater, they are holding their annual conference in Orange, CA later this month between June 22-24th and we'd love to see you there.
