Thanks to everyone reading, this is the message I am able to deliver to you:
By the end of this week, Argisa, Ethiopia will have clean water!
Most of you know that you all raised, over the course of one week, the money we needed for our first phase of the Ethiopia project. That, in and of itself, was a miracle.
Jack, from Waves for Water, boarded a plan on December 12, and I have just been informed he has landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Jack will be bringing 80 Sawyer filters to the rural village of Argisa, Ethiopia on Lake Awassa. This is where Sister Donna Frances has been living for the past decade. She lives in an area with an extremely high malaria rate, flooding, famine, and drought and is committed to living with the people without bringing in too much western influence.
Water has been a huge stress on Sister, but no longer. Everyone in the village will now have an overabundance of safe drinking water.
I was excited to also hear from Sister Donna today. I had written her quickly to let her know Jack was on his way, and was worried she would not receive my email before he arrived.
What I love about this letter is how genuinely surprised and excited she is by all the different kind of cloth diapers that the village received from you guys:
“Hi Jamie, wow, I just arrived in Awassa and read your Email. Today is the 12th of December, so they will arrive tomorrow. WOW, really exciting…Do you have a phone number for them? I will wait for them here in Awassa, they will arrive on which day do you know? Exciting, exciting.
We started this in October. It is now December, and in that time frame you all have single-handedly made a tremendous impact in a small village thousands of miles away from where most of you call home. Instead of water that brings death, you have provided water that gives life. You have also met the needs of the area with cloth diapers! While we have a long-term goal of bringing out an EC expert (still need to find someone willing to come with us in March), for now you are meeting the immediate need with hygiene and comfort.
Way to go, guys! I can’t wait to update you more with Jack’s pictures!
