The easiest routines are the ones we never think about.

Open the faucet and take your morning shower. Brew a cup of tea. In our world, water is there for the asking. But imagine for a moment that your tap is dry, and bringing clean water into your home is now your job.

Where would you go to get water—and if you found a supply, how would you even bring it home?

Believe it or not, this is the way almost a billion people in the world live today. About one in every eight has no ready access to clean water and no way other than carrying it to bring what water there is into the home.

Mindful of the Gospel, Maryknoll is doing something about the world’s water crisis. Here are three mission stories that will give you hope—and, I pray, a reason to give. With your help, I know we can make these programs a model for saving lives and building local economies in other parts of the world.

Father Daniel Ohmann, M.M. builds windmills for pumping water in the arid plains of Tanzania’s Shinyanga district. That’s where women walk miles each day just to find water and carry it home. “Of the 32 villages in our parish, every one has asked for a windmill,” says Father Dan, “so we’re aiming to complete at least one installation a year.” Villagers dig trenches near the riverbed, and then bury plastic piping, which directs the water to nearby tanks. Father Dan says that water from four windmills has been tested and is perfectly safe because it’s filtered through miles of riverbed sand. But these are the real life-changing outcomes… Diarrhea and cholera, once commonplace due to contaminated water, are now rare. Each windmill also provides full-time employment for several workers. Family life has improved, too. Women are not leaving home each day for hours at a time just to find water.

In Machakos, Kenya, Father John Lange, M.M. installed a system for harvesting rainwater atop the roof of a Catholic girls school. The old pump had broken down one too many times. So Father John stepped in. First, he repaired the pump and added a second as back-up. Then, he installed equipment for catching rainwater—19,000 gallons at top capacity. About 10 years ago, Father John helped repair a dam in the Mount Kenya region that created a water distribution system for 160 small farms. “Clean water is the first step toward controlling disease,” says Father John. “But it also builds up local economies because people can farm and sell what they grow.” Father John’s next project in to find the funds to drill a borehole at the girls’ school. “That would provide an unlimited supply of clean water and allow the school to expand.” Fortunately, Father John is an experienced hand at boreholes. He successfully solved water problems at another school by drilling down 1,000 ft. Now almost no one there gets sick from dysentery or typhoid.

Water is an essential component of Father Paul Sykora, M.M.’s recycling and home gardening project in southern Cochabamba, Bolivia, an area without running water. “The challenge,” says Father Paul, “was to find a way to maximize the community’s very limited supply of water, which is trucked in.” His solution? An innovative home-gardening program with a recycling component. Families are building compost piles from food scraps, using old, discarded tires as container barrels. They’re also using tires to create home gardens for growing vegetables. “Our goal is to educate people and eventually have a produce fair that encourages the community to conserve and recycle.” Already schools and newly organized environmental groups are getting involved. One school is composting and teaching conservation in class. “The purpose of mission is to teach Gospel values by example,” says Father Paul. “Protecting the earth for future generations is one of Maryknoll’s highest priorities.”
See a video of Fr. Sykora's work in Bolivia

These projects are all ambitious but your gift will make sure Father Dan builds that next windmill… and Father John sinks another borehole… and Father Paul expands his gardening program into more neighborhoods.

When you wash your hands today or make a fresh pot of coffee, please think about the children and families who have no water at all. Throughout the world, in poverty-racked towns and villages, Maryknoll Missioners are honoring the gift of Creation. Your support makes this gift of life possible. With the Gospel in our hearts, we are doing God’s work on behalf of the poor. Thank you for joining us in mission to honor the earth—and all of God’s gifts.