Posted Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 by Field Notes
BRAZIL – Sao Sebastiao Do Janauaca Grande, Janauaca Lake GPS: 03 3.865 S, 060 17.407 W Jose Ignacio is the patriarch of Sao Sebastiao Do Janauaca Grande. He is 74 years old and, until recently, had never tasted clean water. Not once. In 74 years. Jose’s family was there to witness... [Read more]
Posted Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 by LWI Editor
From August 7-14, 2010, a mission team traveled from Houston to Honduras to drill a water well for the people of the village of Rio Arriba. Chad Yelverton, one member of the team, shares his experience from the trip: I almost didn’t go on this trip at all. Seriously, I thought of reasons... [Read more]
Posted Monday, August 9th, 2010 by Brandon Kidd
Article and Photos by Brandon Kidd | www.bkiddphoto.com HONDURAS – La Halaria Nestled between the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea lies a country whose beauty shines as hot as its sun, and whose inhabitants’ hearts are as infectious as their smiles. Warm, rich, and authentic are the Honduran... [Read more]
Posted Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 by LWI Editor
Shannon Strossner, a member of the Development Team at Living Water International, had the opportunity to travel to El Salvador with a mission team in from June 27th to July 3rd, 2010. Here, in her words, is a story from the trip. EL SALVADOR – El Salomo Francisco is 15 years old. When... [Read more]
Posted Thursday, July 8th, 2010 by Field Notes
HONDURAS – Nueva Sinai # 2, Colegio, Trujillo, Colon GPS: 15 40.413 N, 086 08.138 W In the center of the village of Nuevo Sinai is a high school with 247 students. Every day, students and teachers were drinking, bathing, and washing clothes in the river. The school had restrooms, but... [Read more]
Posted Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 by Field Notes
GUATEMALA – Victoria III, Retalhulue GPS: 14 23.879 N, 91 57.936 W When our team arrived, some of the villagers were expecting us and smiling and ready to help us in everything we needed. One woman told us on behalf of all of the other women in the community, “We are so thankful to... [Read more]
Posted Thursday, June 3rd, 2010 by Field Notes
HAITI – Lespine, Port-Au-Prince GPS: 18 34.718 N, 072 10.996 W After the earthquake, more and more people are coming into Lespine looking for shelter, food, and water. Those already living here feel the strain—they used to eat three meals each day, but now they only eat once because they... [Read more]
Posted Thursday, May 27th, 2010 by Field Notes
MEXICO – San Antonio Juarez, Tecalli, Puebla GPS: 18 47.819 N, 097 59.874 W Our team has been to this village several times before, teaching health and hygiene classes to the kids at the school. Until now, though, the villagers were still drinking from an open spring. When the spring... [Read more]
Posted Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 by Field Notes
PERU – Santa Clara, Yarina Cocha GPS: 08 16.195 S, 074 38.960 W A man named David in Santa Clara told us all about the open well they used to use: “The old well would dry up. You had to get up early to get water because if you were late it was all stirred up. One time, they even found... [Read more]
Posted Thursday, May 6th, 2010 by Field Notes
HAITI – Cuvier, Port-Au-Prince GPS: 18 35.103 N, 072 11.257 W Even before the earthquake, they were the poorest of the poor. Now, there are thousands more living in tents and under tarps in their village, displaced by January’s massive earthquake. The mud huts left standing here were not... [Read more]
Posted Tuesday, May 4th, 2010 by Field Notes
HAITI – Bas Rescape, Ferrier, North District GPS: 19 36.905 N, 071 46.518 W A Living Water mission team from the United States traveled to Bas Rescape to help our Haitian team with pump repair. Eustache, a local farmer, told us a little about what conditions were like in the community: “The... [Read more]
Posted Thursday, April 29th, 2010 by Field Notes
HAITI – Sarbrusse, Leogane GPS: 18 28.461 N, 072 34.552 W In many places like Sarbrusse, clean water has to be trucked into the community each day and stored in these large plastic bags. Makeshift shelters sprout up around the water source (you can see the tents and tarps behind the water... [Read more]
Posted Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 by Field Notes
HAITI – Savane Blone, Port-au-Prince GPS: 18 35.180 N, 72 13.582 W Since this pump was broken, people from the community had to walk miles to another pump. When the only working pump is being used by two communities, it can cause some problems. The people from Savane Blone were sometimes... [Read more]
Posted Thursday, April 22nd, 2010 by Field Notes
HAITI – Titanyen, Port-Au-Prince GPS: 18 42.823 N, 072 20.571 W The name of this village—Titanyen—means “little more than nothing.” This is the place where they traditionally bury people who have died with no money. Now, after the earthquake, it is a place for mass graves. A man... [Read more]
Posted Thursday, April 8th, 2010 by Field Notes
GUATEMALA – Los Ramos, Cajola GPS: 14 55.285 N, 091 37.146 W The people of Los Ramos got their water from two places: a large river (where the people also wash clothes and bathe), and random taps throughout the community. “We have tap water, yes,” said a local farmer, “but it is not... [Read more]
Posted Monday, March 29th, 2010 by LWI Editor
The Art of Giving is an online art auction and fundraiser hosted through a dedicated eBay store. 100% of the proceeds of the event will be equally divided among three organizations: Living Water International, Doctors Without Borders, and Habitat for Humanity. All proceeds will be used for... [Read more]
Posted Thursday, March 25th, 2010 by LWI Editor
EL SALVADOR – Monte Rico Omar Garcia, Missions Pastor at Kingsland Baptist Church in Katy, Texas, traveled to El Salvador in February to help bring the gift of clean water to a village called Monte Rico. Here are his reflections and photos from the trip. Monte Rico is a small village... [Read more]
Posted Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 by LWI Editor
PERU – Huambra Coacha Nueva GPS: 04 23.172 S, 076 51.451 W When Tommy Head first came to Huambra Coacha Nueva, he almost didn’t get to go home. While Tommy was working on a well in a village about five minutes away, the chief of Huambra Coacha Nueva requested to see him. When Tommy... [Read more]
Posted Tuesday, March 16th, 2010 by LWI Editor
PERU – Santa Eliza, Shipibo GPS: 08 34.247 S, 074 14.503 W Santa Eliza is a Shipibo village stretched out along the Tipishca River. 300 people call Santa Eliza home; our team was ready to go in and bless them all by providing a cup of clean water in Jesus’ name. After all, that’s what... [Read more]
Posted Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 by Susanna Donald
Most seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds spend their final semester coasting through high school until graduation. Cort Gatliff and Christian Kauffman, two high school seniors from Memphis, Tennessee, are spending a month coasting across America on their bikes instead. This isn’t your typical... [Read more]
Posted Monday, March 8th, 2010 by LWI Editor
Somewhere in the Amazon maze of twisted tributaries and jungle was the village of Nueva Union. The labyrinth of forked and branching rivers had proven treacherous, even for the crew’s experienced guide. Tommy Head piloted “the Hosanna,” a twenty-foot river vessel. Its roof and plastic... [Read more]
Posted Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 by LWI Editor
TEXAS—The first grade students at Northside Baptist School in Victoria, Texas were deeply saddened by the tragic news out of Haiti. Each day, the nine students prayed for the children in Haiti. Then, the class came up with another way they could help. As the day of their Valentine’s Day... [Read more]
Posted Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 by LWI Editor
HAITI (MNN) ― As relief work continues in Haiti, Duane Zook of Global Aid Network (GAiN USA) says two of the greatest threats have become dehydration and malnutrition. Many small Haitian communities had barely enough clean water before the earthquake hit. One Living Water International report... [Read more]
Posted Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 by Field Notes
HAITI – Croix-Des-Bouquets, Port-Au-Prince GPS: 18 34.028 N, 072 11.628 W Although this community is close to Port-Au-Prince, the effects of the earthquake are not as bad here. Many of the surrounding areas were hit much, much harder, so people are coming into Croix-Des-Bouquets looking for... [Read more]
Posted Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 by LWI Editor
Charl Draxler traveled to Colon, Honduras with a Living Water mission team in January 2010. Here, in her own words, are some reflections from the trip. When I saw the Living Water video for the first time, God touched my heart and I knew that I wanted to be part of a well drilling team. It... [Read more]
Posted Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 by LWI Editor
Clean water is great, but it’s not the best news we have to offer. That’s why Living Water International provides clean water in Jesus’ name. So what do you do when the people you serve don’t know a thing about Jesus? What Christians often do is hand them a Bible—whether they can... [Read more]
Posted Monday, February 8th, 2010 by Jonathan Wiles
HAITI – The earth shook and three weeks later as many as 230,000 Haitians are dead. Nearly 500,000 crowd camps around Port-au-Prince. 1.5 million are homeless, hungry, and thirsty. Illnesses like typhoid and cholera spread quickly under these cramped conditions. Living Water International... [Read more]
Posted Thursday, February 4th, 2010 by LWI Editor
Getting married? What if your engagement ring could be more than a symbol of your love? What if it could also provide a life-saving symbol of God’s love for 500 Haitians in desperate need of clean drinking water? Can you think of a better way to begin your marriage? With This Ring (WTR),... [Read more]
Posted Monday, November 2nd, 2009 by LWI Editor
In July, a team of twelve people traveled to Guatemala to drill a well and share the love of Christ in Champerico, a town on the country’s western coast. Jenny Thompson was a member of that team. Here, in her own words, she shares some of her experiences from the trip. Our team of twelve... [Read more]
Posted Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 by Jonathan Wiles
HAITI – The faces of these kids will stay with me for the rest of my life. Bayaha, the village in eastern Haiti that they call home, is one of the poorest places I’ve ever seen, but these kids, like kids everywhere, played and laughed, skipping down the dirt paths between their... [Read more]
Posted Monday, October 19th, 2009 by Sarah Beth Baca
EL SALVADOR – Los Vertientes Safety. It is a cherished part of our American culture. We want to live in the safest neighborhoods, drive the safest cars, put our kids in the safest schools, and stay away from “unsafe” parts of town. As a mother of two small children, I am constantly... [Read more]
Posted Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 by Andie Kincaid
Andie Kincaid’s short film, “The Hydro-logical Cycle,” was the winner of this year’s Watershed Project Student Film Contest. Her prize? A trip to El Salvador with her mother to see the water crisis firsthand. She recently returned, and sent us her story. “Draw near... [Read more]
Posted Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 by LWI Editor
EL SALVADOR – El Porvenir means “The Future” in Spanish, and one community in rural El Salvador bears that name. It is a village of about 200 people, most of whom work as farmers and live on less than $10 per day. Two Houston-area churches, Pathways Church and Fellowship of... [Read more]
Posted Monday, August 24th, 2009 by Field Notes
HONDURAS – Sabanas de Lorelay Community, Sonaguera GPS: 15 38.540 N, 086 11.650 W In the fall of 2008, severe flooding and terrible storms battered the northern coast of Honduras. The Sabanas de Lorelay Community is only one of many villages in the Sonaguera area suffering because of these... [Read more]
Posted Monday, July 27th, 2009 by Hannah Wiest
EL SALVADOR – Campenaro Numero Dos All Jorge has is eight coconuts and five mangoes. It is not enough. But it will have to do. He raises his machete, slicing the coconuts in half and urging us to eat. He plucks five mangoes from his mango tree. None remain on the branches for later. He... [Read more]
Posted Friday, June 12th, 2009 by David Uttley
“Listen to my cry for I am in desperate need.” Psalm 142:6 HAITI – The need here is so great. The need for clean water… for hope… for salvation. I recently returned from a pump repair trip in Haiti with Living Water International. We worked in communities around... [Read more]
Posted Friday, June 12th, 2009 by Staci Abdulla
Earlier this year, Staci and Beau Abdulla (along with their children, Madison and Braden) moved to Kampala to establish a headquarters for a new LWI program in Uganda. Over the next three years, their goal is to implement 140 new water solutions. To get this started, Staci and Beau are traveling... [Read more]
Posted Thursday, May 7th, 2009 by LWI Editor
Tommy Head, Director of LWI Peru, was recently killed in a motorcycle accident in northern Peru. The Living Water International family mourns his death and celebrates his life. Tommy took things to their limits. Whether reaching out to untouched peoples in the remotest of places or turning... [Read more]
Posted Thursday, April 9th, 2009 by Susanna Donald
NICARAGUA – Las Palmas The school in Las Palmas, by western standards, seems to be an unlikely place to learn much about anything. 120 students crowd into three small classrooms each day. A fourth classroom has been partially washed away by heavy rains. The well where the students once got... [Read more]
Posted Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 by Susanna Donald
Three years ago, an LWI team attempted to bring clean water to Los Bahiles, a community in the highlands of Guatemala located in the middle of a volcanic valley 8,200 feet above sea level. The hand dug water wells that served as the community’s sole source of water were contaminated with... [Read more]
Posted Wednesday, February 4th, 2009 by Susanna Donald
In the Winter 2008 issue of Pipeline, LWI’s Tommy Head reported on his experiences drilling wells in the Amazon Jungle of Peru (see Opening the Door to the Candoshi, Winter 2008). The Candoshi Indians on the Chapuri River are “by far – culturally, geographically, and otherwise – the... [Read more]
Posted Monday, October 27th, 2008 by Paul Darilek
EL SALVADOR – You’ve heard us talk about how hauling water ends up being the work of women—and often children—in the developing world. You’ve seen photos of women walking four miles each way with jugs on their heads. It would be tough work if hauling water was their only job,... [Read more]
Posted Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 by Tommy Head
Carol, Drew, and the children of Santa Isabel at "Wally's Well." PERU – Santa Isabel Ucayalli GPS: 08 28.3274 S, 074 31.0128 W In the center of a Shipibo Village called Santa Isabel is a very special well. Perhaps the well itself isn’t more remarkable than any of the other... [Read more]
Posted Monday, October 20th, 2008 by LWI Editor
HAITI – Earlier this year, Gonaives was a bustling port city, home to nearly a million people. As I look around today, it looks like a war zone. Bleak shells of half-collapsed buildings stand sentry over mountains of rubble. And everything is covered with mud—caked, drying mud. About... [Read more]
Posted Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 by Jonathan Wiles
HAITI – Keep the LWI Haiti team in your prayers over the next few days. We’re piling into trucks tomorrow to drive into the area around Gonaives, the city that was devastated by Hanna, Gustav, and Ike. Pray that we can get in, as most roads and bridges in the area were washed out. We’re... [Read more]
Posted Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008 by Jonathan Wiles
HAITI – Hurricane Ike added at least 70 to the death toll in storm-battered Haiti, on top of more than 600 killed by Tropical Storm Hanna and Hurricane Gustav. Local authorities say that many corpses were washed out to sea, so it’s difficult to pin down exact numbers. Haiti was... [Read more]
Posted Monday, September 15th, 2008 by Jonathan Wiles
HOUSTON – Some fared worse, others better, but Houston—America’s fourth-largest city—was more disrupted than devastated by Hurricane Ike, unlike its harder-hit suburbs on the Gulf Coast. The city was hit by a power blackout on Saturday, when the hurricane struck, and more than 1.6... [Read more]
Posted Thursday, September 4th, 2008 by Tommy Head
PERU – Progreso is a Shawi Village on the Yanayacu River. We have worked with this people group for more than 10 years and they are dear to our hearts. We are so thankful that Advent Conspiracy has provided sponsorship for these wells in this village. The Shawi Tribe numbers more than... [Read more]
Posted Saturday, August 9th, 2008 by Field Notes
CORPI (teaching institute), San Lorenzo, Peru. CORPI is a teaching institute in San Lorenzo that is operated by Terra Nova, a non-profit group from Italy. Their function is to bring natives in from the jungle and train them to be health workers in their own village. They try to strategically... [Read more]
Posted Thursday, August 7th, 2008 by Tommy Head
Buenas Aires (Shawi Tribe), Peru. Buenas Aires is a Shawi Village on the Caupaunas River. It’s located on the riverbank; in fact, we always walked straight through it on the way to another village that was a bit off the river. We were collaborating with another non-profit that had chosen... [Read more]
Posted Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 by LWI Editor
HAITI – Severe flooding struck southern Haiti in 2003. In the region of Leogane, buildings were destroyed infrastructure damaged. Water wells were particularly vulnerable; many were contaminated, or even completely disabled. This was the case in the village of L’Acul, where the... [Read more]
Posted Thursday, June 12th, 2008 by Field Notes
Sumbachi Coacha, Peru (0418.299S, 07654.973W) Sumbachi Coacha is a Candoshi Village on the Chapuri River System. It was our second trip to this village to attempt a well. The reason for our not finishing the well here the first time was because someone that REALLY wanted a well in their village... [Read more]
Posted Thursday, June 12th, 2008 by Field Notes
Pirumba, Peru GPS: S 45°15.102, W 076°42.042 Pirumba is a Cashi village that is surrounded by water. It is also a small village with very little contact from the outside world. They don’t speak Spanish here so we simply tried to communicate as best as we could. Pirumba is our first of ten... [Read more]
Posted Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 by Field Notes
Aguajal, Peru (04 21.150S, 076 52.293W) General information… man it’s hard to know sometimes what I should and should not share. How graphic or gory should I be? This was one of the saddest drills we have ever done. Aguajal is located on the Chapure River and is a Candoshi Village. These... [Read more]
Posted Monday, June 9th, 2008 by Field Notes
Wiche, Peru (GPS 0412.403 NS, 07641.614 EW) Wiche is a Candoshi Village located on the Chapure River. It’s a small village, but refreshingly friendly. Though there were very few men present at the time we arrived, they all worked very hard to get the job done. The first attempt was was not... [Read more]
Posted Friday, May 16th, 2008 by Stan Patyrak
San Chandro Community, EL Salvador I am talking with some of the Perez children. Kaias is 9. Ana – she is 5 Wendy is 10 and Marta, 6. They have eight other brothers and sisters. And this is the river they drink from. I just learned from some of the elder women in San Chandro that during... [Read more]
Posted Friday, May 16th, 2008 by Stan Patyrak
EL SALVADOR You may have read this a few posts back. The two-year-old boy who died… his name was Christopher. Turns out, we worshiped with Christopher and his mother at church only a few days ago. She was feeding him an ice-cream cone (cone only) during the service. We visited his mother... [Read more]
Posted Thursday, May 15th, 2008 by Stan Patyrak
EL SALVADOR – I am visiting with Pedro Antonio Ramez and his mother; they have lived in Marro Grande Abajo for 38 years. They have clean water. Well, sort of. Marro Grande Abajo has piped water from the Hjutla water plant. The name of the plant is not of any great significance; the fact... [Read more]
Posted Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 by Stan Patyrak
EL SALVADOR – For the past two days I have seen more women and children at rivers than I have in their own homes. I have watched children that would barely be allowed to cross the street alone in the States walk down rocky hills, across boulders and to the riverside to gather drinking... [Read more]
Posted Monday, May 12th, 2008 by Stan Patyrak
EL SALVADOR – I am sitting with Lucia Alvarado Alvarado (yep, twice) in the village of La Planta, a rather poor community of 46 families outside of Acajutla, El Salvador. Most of the community has steady employment only a few months out of the year – entirely reliant on “picking... [Read more]
Posted Saturday, May 10th, 2008 by Stan Patyrak
We found this watering hole 5 minutes from the airport in El Salvador. Down the street from Kentucky Fried Chicken. And only a few minutes from the Quizno’s where we ate lunch. Most days you would find mothers and kids filling buckets with water for cooking, drinking, and cleaning. Today... [Read more]
Posted Friday, April 4th, 2008 by Maria
The Nicaraguan children stood barefoot and in tattered clothes as the sweltering heat ferociously beat down upon them, yet their brilliant smiles remained as steadfast as the irrepressible twinkle in their dark eyes. I was one of 21 college students who spent spring break on a mission trip... [Read more]
Posted Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 by LWI Editor
PERU (MNN) ― Living Water International’s Tommy Head works with the Cadoshi tribe in the Amazon region of Peru. Head says when he first arrived, his intent was to teach Bible, leadership training and development. However, many members of the tribe were succumbing to waterborne diseases... [Read more]
Posted Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 by Kimberly Lango
During a boat trip on the Paraguay river, we saw rows of crosses atop little mounds along the shore. These undersized graves were those of ribeirinho (river-dwelling) children who had recently died in an outbreak of diarrhea from drinking river water. If only we had gotten there a month earlier. Last... [Read more]
Posted Friday, May 4th, 2007 by LWI Editor
MEXICO (MNN) ― Living Water International is working in three frontiers in Mexico. LWI’s Tim Mulville says that in one of their project areas, they saw a water pump mend a longstanding rift between two villages, Teteles and Balvanera, southeast of Mexico City. When the team arrived,... [Read more]
US Teams Haiti
iPad Giveaway
Page CXVI
Haiti - Right Now
The Story of the Thirsty
OSU Wells Project
Mike Mantel at Calvin College
Tommy's Story
Haitians Rejoice
Helping Haiti Webisode 14: Thank You!
Helping Haiti Webisode 13: Drinking Water
Helping Haiti Webisode 12: Well 6
Helping Haiti Webisode 11: Well 5
Helping Haiti Webisode 10: Soccer
Wells Project Redux
Helping Haiti Webisode 9: Woman with Polio
Helping Haiti Webisode 8: Well 4
Helping Haiti Webisode 7: Well 3
Helping Haiti Webisode 6: Well 2
Helping Haiti Webisode 5: Port-au-Prince Testimonies
