I had a wonderful visit on November 15 with the congregation at Bethany Lutheran Church in Slidell, Louisiana. They are the congregation that is sponsoring the Kuwaa Mission. I gave them a short presentation about what we are doing this year.
During the month of January, we will walk from village to village and do an assessment. We need to determine the needs, the best locations for wells and latrines, and the pulse of the villagers. They will need to do a lot of work to get the wells and latrines installed. There are no roads into the villages, so they will have to carry materials on their backs. After we complete the assessment, we will return to Monrovia and report to the Kuwaa Mission Board. They will decide upon our plan. Bekki and Stan will go home at the end of January, and I will return with Pastor Chris Kowula to the Kuwaa Chiefdom. We hope to get 2 wells and some latrines installed.
We are bringing 100 portable water filters to the villagers. We will use the filters to clean the water before we use it, and we'll show them how to use them. They are called Sawyer Point One Filters. They remove bacteria and protozoa, using membrane technology. The filters can be backwashed and re-used, so they will last for a long time. Everything that we do will be low-tech, since the villagers will have to maintain it when we leave. If you would like to buy a filter for a family, send a check to Bethany Lutheran Church and earmark it for filters. They cost $40 each. There is a link at the bottom of my blog to the Kuwaa Mission website, where you can find Bethany's address.
The main thing we want to accomplish this year is to give the Kuwaa people hope for a better future. I am really thankful that I have this opportunity to make a difference in their lives.
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