Gift of clean water
E-mail story
It's easy. Send a link to the story you were just reading to a friend. Just fill out the form on this page and we'll send it along.
Your name and e-mail address are transmitted to the recipient. Otherwise, it is considered private information; see Privacy policy.
KALIWUNGU, INDONESIA
Missionaries assisted in installing a clean water system to aid the hillside village Kaliwungu in Central Java, Indonesia. The project, funded by Latter-day Saint Charities, needed some extra help to bring it back on schedule.
Fourteen missionaries — eight elders, two sisters and two senior couples — joined members of the Solo Branch, Surakart Indonesia District, for a day assisting local workers on the project. They carried bags of cement from the storehouse and moved nearly 1,200 feet of 3-inch PVC pipe to the side of trenches. They also assisted in assembling the steel reservoir tank.
One of the locals, 66-year-old Margono (many Indonesians use only one name), watched the missionaries. He commented, "I am amazed by how energetic those young people and foreigners work. I am impressed by the ladies who show no awkwardness working in the field. I'm sure it is not their line of work, but they do it happily for the benefit of the people who live here."
Elder Roland Manulang, a zone leader in the Solo Zone, Indonesia Jakarta Mission, remarked, "I am satisfied and happy. ... Only through our service will people see who we really are."
The project allows water to be gravity fed from a spring or clean water source to holding tanks and distributed by tubing to individual homes. The villagers agree to assist with the installation and must fund the last few feet of tubing into individual homes. They also are responsible for ongoing maintenance.
For many families, this is the first time they will have clean water at a tap in their homes. Previously, often-polluted water was hand carried, sometimes for miles, to their dwellings.
Upon completion, this project will serve about 18,500 people in seven villages.
