Changing Lives with a Cup of Water

Jonatan and his brothers live with their parents in a community in southern Mexico. Although there’s plenty of water in the river near their home, that water has never been safe for them to drink. “I drank water from the river and it made me sick,” recalled Jonatan, age 9. “There was no water at our house.” 
 
Jonatan’s mom, Teresa, explained why the river water is so dangerous. “We washed our dishes and our clothes in the river. And we even took baths in the river. At first I thought my kids got sick from the weather or bad food. And then I figured out that it was the raw river water that was hurting them. They couldn’t go to school. They just wanted to stay in bed and they wouldn’t eat. They didn’t even want to play.” 
 
So Operation Blessing built the community a new water system. We laid pipe to transport water from an underground stream to a new tank we built within the community. The added purification process in the tank makes the water clean and safe to drink.  

“Now we no longer have to carry water. We have plenty now,” said the children’s father Gilberto. “It has been a big weight lifted off us.”
 
“Now I don’t get stomach pains from drinking the bad water,” added Jonatan. 
 
Four-year-old Brandon had some thoughts about the new clean water supply too!  “Now I can drink water at home,” he said. “My favorite thing to do is take a bath and brush my teeth!”   
 
“Our children don’t get sick anymore,” noted mom, Teresa. “Thank you Operation Blessing. Now the water is clean and safe.”