Nyanot lives in a small village in the northern region of South Sudan with her husband and their eight children. Though located near a river, her village did not have a clean water source for drinking and bathing.
In order to fetch water, she had to spend most of her day crossing the river to reach the nearest well or use dirty river water for bathing and drinking. Nyanot’s family and other community members were often sick because they drank contaminated river water.
Crossing the river to the closest water source was not an easy task for Nyanot and her neighbors. “The children were hungry because we took so much time to collect water,” Nyanot explained to us.
To make matters worse, the village with the closest well harassed Nyanot and her neighbors by telling them there wasn’t enough water for both communities.
After facing difficulties with the nearby community, Nyanot and local church members gathered together on two different occasions to pray for a new water source for their village. They pleaded with God to provide clean water. Incredibly, the Giver of good gifts heard their prayers and did exactly that.
Samaritan’s Purse drilled a well near the church so that the village would have safe water for drinking and bathing. Samaritan’s Purse trained community members on how to properly manage and maintain the water well, and introduced health and hygiene practices to the village.
After the well was constructed, the community gathered at the church to thank God for answering their prayers. Nyanot is excited about having safe water close to her home. “The communities around us saw that we were suffering, so they even thanked God when they saw we got a water well,” she said.
To date, Samaritan’s Purse has drilled more than 270 water wells throughout South Sudan.
