“Water is life”
This was the answer given most often when Jay Johnson, water engineer, asked a local pastor, church elder, or village leader about why the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria should have a water program.”
Jay, a member of the Nigeria Health Care Team of the Minneapolis Area Synod, spent 7-weeks in Nigeria in April and May, 2008, surveying the water sources, water quality and water needs in villages in northeastern Nigeria. The majority of the villages he visited were rural with populations of 5,000 people or less, although he also observed the water conditions in the cities. Small villages primarily use traditional water sources such as streams, hand dug water holes and spring areas.
Most streams dry up as the dry season progresses, and the villagers have to travel further and further for their water. A number of the villages also have hand dug wells or boreholes drilled deeper by machine. Some of these wells and boreholes have been drilled by the government. Many of the hand dug wells dry up during the dry season or become contaminated. Pumps sometimes quit working and are never repaired.
One of Jay’s findings and recommendations relates directly to our FLCW soap and health kit collection. Poor sanitation including the lack of soap and training in the importance of hand washing is a big factor in well contamination.
The desire for a reliable, clean water source near to the people was universal in all the villages Jay visited. The Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria (LCCN) together with its partners Minneapolis Area Synod, Danish Mission Africa, and Global Health Ministries is using the information Jay gathered together with information from each of the diocese in the Nigeria to begin formulating a plan to improve the water quality and availability in Northeast Nigeria.
Each diocese will identify an experienced technical person to assist
with ongoing repair needs.
Each village project will have a trained water committee to
assume responsibility in their community before projects are begun.
For the first 2 years, priority will be given to rehabilitation of existing
boreholes, wells and equipment rather than new borehole development.
The first projects are at the Bible Schools at Pella and Dashen and
the hospital at Demsa.
Monetary gifts to help with water development in Nigeria can be
given through the Synod Making a World of Difference Fund.
Worship
Sunday: 8:00 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.
Sunday School
Held during the 9:30 a.m. worship service.
Kid’s Church
The first Sunday of each month
(no Sunday school).
Children stay with their parents
through the children’s message.
First Lutheran Church of Crystal
7708 - 62nd Avenue North
Brooklyn Park, MN 55428
(763) 537-4576 (phone)
(763) 537-0372 (fax)
