Water, sanitation, and hygiene projects are restoring communities and multiplying the Gospel work in the West African country.
Sylvester smiles at the overflowing bucket of clean drinking water that he just filled from the newest well in River Gee County, Liberia. Constructed at Nyantujah Elementary School, where his own children attend, the fresh water will change the lives of the students and the community.
A student at a school in Lofa County, Liberia, is enjoying clean water from a newly-constructed well provided by Samaritan’s Purse.
“I feel happy because the children at this school and in this village don’t need to worry about becoming ill from dirty water,” Sylvester said as he worked alongside more than a dozen other volunteers from the surrounding villages. They spent the morning with the Samaritan’s Purse water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) team completing the job following months of work. The hand pump was the final critical piece, and it had just arrived.
When Sylvester was the age his kids are now, he was forced to flee his home more than once. They returned weeks later to find the wells contaminated and the pumps all broken. All across Liberia, there were communities without any wells or latrines. There was nowhere far enough from the nation’s capital, Monrovia, that the civil war couldn’t reach.
The installation of the pump is the final step and each member of the local volunteer team has a role to play in future repairs.
He is grateful to God that his kids won’t need to experience such events and that Samaritan’s Purse is helping villages create new futures, full of health and hope.
Helping Now and for the Long Haul
Sylvester and fellow volunteers stayed to learn from our team how to assemble and to repair the pump in the future.
Children in River Gee watch a bucket fill with water from the newest well in the region.
Dexter Cassell, a training officer for our WASH program in Liberia, said that providing the well and encouraging community participation ensures that the well will last many years to come. Providing the training also creates opportunities for community members to connect with each other and for our teams to share the Gospel with the group.
“We want the work we have done in this community to impact people for many years to come, long after Samaritan’s Purse is gone,” Cassell said. “This is why we train them on how to assemble the pump and on how to easily repair the pump. We also want them to hear and believe and live according to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So we don’t just come and construct a well. And we don’t just come and preach the Gospel. No. We construct the wells, build the latrines, construct churches so that they can hear the Gospel. When we leave, they look at the work of Samaritan’s Purse, but they praise God for what He has done here.”
Sylvester listened carefully to the instructions from Cassell as he joined in to help lower the pump. Then he listened carefully again, this time to the sound as the lever drew the first gurgles from the water table 15 feet down. Finally it flowed freely and Sylvester cheered.
“Samaritan’s Purse gave us clean drinking water. I’m joyful because this means our children will be healthy,” Sylvester said, praising God for this new gift.
Sharing the Gospel and Seeing Fruit
Several miles away in Tarworken, a Samaritan’s Purse team is helping the community after their well fell into disrepair, which forced people to gather untreated water the last few months from a small pond fed by a spring.
A broken pump in Tarworken requires that families gather water from this small spring-fed pond. We provided emergency filtration systems to prevent illness.
At a local church, we hosted an outreach to provide villagers with household filtration systems while their infrastructure is being rebuilt. During our training, the pastor shared the story of the Good Samaritan. He shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And this is where the team met a father named Weah.
Weah had been resistant to the Gospel for a long time. He stopped going to church with his wife and two sons and was often drunk.
But after seeing God’s love demonstrated through our team that provided the water filters, and hearing them share about eternal salvation through Jesus Christ, he repented and came to faith in Christ.
Weah shows his son the filtration system provided by Samaritan’s Purse.
“I felt far from God. I realized I was not ready to meet Jesus—but now I am,” he said. “I have received Him into my life.”
Whether it’s constructing a well, leading community development training, or partnering to build a house of worship, everything we do points to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
“We aren’t just here to do a project,” Cassell said. “We preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and many people have come to faith.”
Weah and his family have received access to clean water and Weah is experiencing the Living Water, Jesus Christ.
