God is doing great things in Nicaragua! Since last fall, 551 families have been rescued from chronic dehydration and the threat of waterborne illness – thanks to the tireless work of Cross Catholic Outreach ministry partner Amigos for Christ. And now, trenches are being dug and pipe is being laid so that hundreds more will enjoy virtually unlimited access to clean water.
I previously wrote about the inauguration ceremony for the water system in El Chonco, where a pregnant woman celebrated by lifting the bottom of her shirt and exposing her bulging belly to the gushing stream of water.
Since then, the woman – whose name is Elisa – has given birth to a precious baby girl. I met Elisa last month at her home and was introduced to her new arrival, sound asleep in a hammock and blissfully unaware of the struggles that once plagued the village.
For Elisa, the technicalities of water tables, filtration systems, PVC pipelines, and gravitational and electrical forces all boil down to one thing: her love for her children. Now, she will never have to look her daughter in the eye and tell her there is no water. She will never have to stand by helplessly as her little girl faints from chronic dehydration. She will never be forced to rely on contaminated water she knows will make her family sick, because there’s no money left to buy good water from the well three miles down the road. No, those hardships will just be stories, vaguely remembered by the next generation, which will grow up with all the clean water they could ever need for drinking, bathing and meeting their daily needs.
That’s what this project is really all about – hope for the future. It’s about a baby in a hammock, sleeping without a care in the world while her mother thanks God for the gift of clean water.