(By Liz Denny, The Richmond [KY] Register.) To most of us, having clean water is no big deal. But to the people of the Central American Republic of Honduras, clean water is a big deal.
But thanks to the First Presbyterian Church in Richmond, along with other churches, more than 60 children will now have clean water. And this is only the beginning of what this community can do.
The Waters for the Living Lord (WLL) mission outreach of First Presbyterian Church provides clean water to communities in need in western Honduras.
More than 600 million people around the world lack access to safe drinking water, and waterborne illnesses resulting from contamination are among the leading causes of death in underdeveloped nations. The First Presbyterian mission program is one of many efforts to address these problems in a direct manner by making clean, safe drinking water available to communities in need.
The church began the water missions program in 2008 and 2009 with installation of clean water systems in two very small towns in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. Both of these water systems are still operating.
This is an ongoing mission work for the church. In October, the church took its mission trip to Honduras with lots of planned activities. After meeting with their Honduran partners, the group mapped out a two-year plan for continued work in the Copan region of Honduras, and plans also were made for work beyond that.
Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, and has a population of 8 million people. The church turned to western Honduras in 2010, a region which the church discovered had a greater need for the sort of water purification systems that the members install.The church currently works with its Honduran partners to help maintain 10 operating systems that the mission has installed over the past six years — two at orphanages and eight in small, isolated mountain villages. There are plans for two more systems in 2017.