God-Sent Clean Water—Through You!

Antoni, 8, lives with his family in a village on the side of a mountain in a remote part of Honduras. The greatest need of the entire community is clean water for drinking and cooking.  

“The water that we have consumed has never been clean,” said Antonio, Antoni’s dad. “The hoses don’t have any filters. We see insects and dirt in the cloudy water.”  

Currently water comes to families via several hoses connected to surface springs that collect into small pools on a hillside. The water source is exposed and contaminated with bacteria, which can cause illness, especially in children.

"I remember drinking water and almost immediately I felt a great pain, like burning in my stomach. I felt nauseous,” Antoni recalled. “Another day the pain in my stomach was so bad that I cried a lot.”  

Antonio told us his son got so sick that they had to rush him to a clinic, which was more than an hour's drive from their home. The transportation, treatment and medicines for that one visit cost Antonio nearly half a month’s wages. “The doctor told me that he had developed parasites because of the type of water that he has been drinking,” said Antonio.  

Then Operation Blessing came to the community to help. First, we identified a new water spring higher in the mountain. We built a retaining wall and, with help from the community, we laid pipes, built a 5000 gallon storage tank and added purification. Finally, we ran pipes to homes in the community, including Antoni’s. 

“The water that Operation Blessing gave us is very refreshing. It feels as cold as if they had put ice in it!” declared the boy with a smile.   

“I want to thank God, and then thank the donors of the Operation Blessing. For us this has been excellent," said Antonio.

“Now my family and everyone in the community are happy because of the water that God sent us!” added Antoni.