Participants:
Series Code: JFAN
Program Code: JFAN000020A
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00:03 Water, we use it for many things
00:06 often without thinking about how much we use. 00:09 But what if your water was limited? 00:13 What if that water wasn't always safe to drink? 00:16 What if you only got access to water a few times a month? 00:20 That's the situation with many villages in India, 00:22 including this one. 00:30 I'm Kirk with Jesus for Asia. 00:32 And we're here to discover 00:34 what we can do to help these people 00:37 find consistently available pure water. 01:19 It's hard to imagine that 97 million people in India 01:23 lack access to safe water. 01:28 The second largest country in the world by population, 01:31 India is rich with culture and resources 01:35 with a growing economy and advancing technology. 01:39 Yet, with such growth, the nation as a whole faces 01:43 a monumental challenge. 01:46 Jesus for Asia has many projects throughout India. 01:49 And we have realized that the need for cleaning water 01:53 is a huge evangelistic opportunity 01:56 to share the love of Jesus with these beautiful people. 02:00 So a team was sent to research how we can help provide 02:04 clean water to those in need. 02:08 Water is one of the most basic needs 02:10 of every human being on earth. 02:13 People understand that water is not optional, 02:16 it's a necessity. 02:17 That's why for thousands of years, 02:20 cities have been built near sources of fresh water. 02:25 But for the village of Bharathy Nagar, 02:27 there is no local water source. 02:30 The only source of fresh water comes from the government 02:33 and that is heavily rationed. 02:35 We ask Jesus for Asia, India Director Israel Prasad 02:39 to explain the situation to us. 02:46 In this village there is a lot of difficulties 02:49 with the water, getting good water, 02:51 regular water. 02:53 Weekly, once they get government water 02:56 and that to, it is only for one hour 02:59 and that is not regular. 03:01 Sometimes they get and sometimes they don't get. 03:03 Wow. 03:04 During the one hour time, four families will take water 03:08 in one tap. 03:09 So the first family will be taking 03:12 three pots of water 03:13 and once they are done with three pots, 03:16 then the next family will be taking. 03:18 So it is like that with the four, 03:20 and by the time it comes to the next, 03:23 if it is there, water is still coming, 03:25 they will go for the next round. 03:27 And then, if it is some more water comes, 03:29 you know, they will go for the third round, 03:31 which means per family the maximum water is 03:36 90 liters of water per week. 03:39 The whole week, they have to spend with that water only. 03:42 So that water is not only the water that they cook with, 03:45 it's the water they bathe with and the water they drink? 03:48 Drink. They do... 03:50 That's not very much water? 03:51 Yes, they have lot of difficulties. 03:55 Ninety liters of water is equivalent to 23.8 gallons. 04:00 But there are weeks, they don't even get 90 liters. 04:07 We have to go walking and look for water. 04:10 They will go nearly six to seven kilometers 04:13 to get good drinking water. 04:16 Wow. 04:17 Mostly, the ladies will go walking. 04:19 They keep one on their head, another one on their hip, 04:23 and they bring two at a time. 04:26 Now, that's pretty heavy? 04:27 Very heavy. 04:28 Wow. 04:31 Sometimes we find water close and sometimes we have to walk 04:35 many kilometers to find water. 04:38 Oh, I just can't imagine. 04:39 I can't imagine doing that in the heat. 04:42 It's really difficult. 04:43 But anyhow, they have to survive, you know. 04:46 And they have to use their water 04:48 very sparingly I would imagine. 04:50 Exactly. 04:52 You can imagine, 90 liters of water for one week. 04:53 Washing and bathing are very challenging 04:57 with so little water. 05:00 Just think how much you appreciate 05:04 clean, pure drinking water. 05:08 How much do you appreciate that you don't have to walk 05:10 seven kilometers to go get water everyday. 05:13 How much do you appreciate 05:15 that every time you turn on your tap, 05:17 you have water. 05:18 Well, this village, 05:19 as you've seen from our previous footage, 05:22 they don't have that luxury. 05:25 There should be a basic fundamental... 05:29 What am I trying to say? 05:30 This, this should be a need that everyone has met, 05:34 food and water. 05:36 Those are basic needs in life. 05:38 It's difficult for us to imagine a life like that. 05:47 I wanted to see what it would be like 05:48 for an American family to live with the same amount of water 05:51 that the villagers in Bharathy Nagar get. 05:55 So I went to visit my good friends 05:56 Brian and Chris and their three children 05:59 Lilly and Sarah and Luke 06:01 and challenge them to see if they could live 06:04 on such a limited supply of water. 06:09 The average American family of four uses 06:11 2,100 to 2,800 gallons of water per week. 06:16 That is equivalent to three to four hundred gallons per day. 06:24 A family in Bharathy Nagar gets a maximum of 06:27 90 liters of water a week, 06:30 which is equivalent to 23.8 gallons. 06:33 That is only 3.4 gallons a day. 06:39 One, 06:42 two, 06:44 three, 06:47 0.4 gallons of water a day. 06:50 For the whole family? 06:53 For the whole family. 06:54 Can you survive your whole family 06:57 on 3.4 gallons of water for a day? 07:04 I don't know how we'll do that. 07:10 No dishwasher. 07:11 No laundry. 07:15 No showers. 07:17 No flushing the toilet. 07:18 Is that, we're not going to do anything? 07:37 Hello! 07:46 I have come to Bethel Children's Home 07:47 in South India 07:48 because I heard they were having 07:50 some trouble with the water. 07:51 And I wanted to find out from Israel Prasad 07:54 if the situation had improved. 07:57 We had water in this well 08:00 when I first came to see this property, 08:02 and later, it got fully dried up, 08:05 there was no water. 08:06 So there was a problem with the water. 08:09 Then we thought of putting a borewell, 08:12 you know, a deep well. 08:14 Okay. 08:15 We went up to 1,000 feet and there was no water 08:17 and while drilling, it was just smoke. 08:20 Oh, really? 08:21 Yeah, there was no water at all. 08:23 But, you know, we prayed and the children prayed 08:28 and so many prayed, God gave us water. 08:31 We have enough of water for the daily need. 08:34 God gave them water because they prayed. 08:38 When at first there was no water in the well. 08:40 A local witch doctor told them 08:41 that if they let him perform a puja, 08:44 there would have been water. 08:46 They refused and prayed to God and now they have water. 08:50 And the whole village knows that it was their God 08:53 who provided the water. 08:56 But unfortunately it is little salty, you know, 08:59 it can't be used for drinking purposes, 09:02 for cooking purposes, you know. 09:04 Even sometimes if you pour for the plants, 09:06 even the plants are not really growing up, you know. 09:11 And we are still praying that 09:12 God would change that saltiness into tasty 09:14 so that it will be useful for the children 09:18 and for the daily needs. 09:19 We have 16 orphans right now here. 09:21 Right, right. 09:22 And with the hopes of bringing in many more, 09:25 so we're going to need pure water for the orphans. 09:29 Right. Exactly. 09:30 And water for the agricultural needs as well. 09:32 Yes. 09:33 And right now we are having a very difficult time 09:35 with this water because we're getting government water. 09:40 It comes, you know, once in a week sometime 09:43 and sometimes 15 days once it comes. 09:46 We cannot really rely on that. 09:48 Okay. 09:50 And we are in need of good drinking water. 10:02 We probably drink all of it, but like one. 10:05 We'd re-use the water for dishes, right? 10:08 What about rinsing them? 10:11 What about bathing? 10:14 Take a shower once a week. 10:18 And we'd save the water. 10:19 We don't have to use the same bathing water. 10:23 Unless we all used like this one. 10:26 I mean like, half of this. 10:28 How would you get the soap out of your hair? 10:30 I we would use very carefully. 10:31 And we would these two to drink. 10:35 And not to mention eating. 10:36 I mean, you have to have water to cook with. 10:39 One day you have to wash dishes for the week. 10:42 I don't know how that works. 10:46 One day I've to take a bath. 10:47 One day you have to wash all laundry. 10:50 All the laundry in this? 10:51 Well, maybe drink less that day. 10:54 Could we really wash our, 10:56 I'll find outfits in that bunch of water? 11:00 We have to drink very less. 11:02 Now we have this for... 11:02 I have two. 11:04 Okay. So now I have this first. 11:05 So this is first. 11:07 Flushing toilet, doing dishes, washing. 11:11 Probably you have to plan. 11:13 For each corner, we use one and a half of these. 11:15 Okay. So... 11:17 Every time it's flushed. 11:18 Or you make it that once I think maybe. 11:21 Oh, I mean, you have to. 11:24 We could never flush the toilet, Mom. 11:25 Press. 11:28 No! 11:30 Do you want water? 11:30 Yeah. 11:31 Or do you want the shovel? 11:39 Right, how much water does this take to run? 11:43 Oh, probably only about 15 gallons. 11:44 But I'll do that. 12:31 We're here in the village of Harur today. 12:33 I came here two years ago, and at that time 12:37 I learned there was a real problem with the water. 12:40 I first noticed it with the children. 12:42 Every child had yellow stains on their teeth. 12:46 It wasn't just the children, it was young and old. 12:50 And I enquired what was going on 12:51 and someone told me, 12:53 well, that's due to the salt content in the water. 12:57 The water is very salty and difficulty to drink. 13:02 We get stains on our teeth and have stomachache sometimes. 13:05 Because of this water, we're losing our eyesight. 13:14 The quality of the water is literally causing 13:17 the people to go blind. 13:22 My own father is suffering from weak bones. 13:25 And another relative has kidney failure. 13:27 Many people have black spots on their skin. 13:30 Even our animals don't drink this water. 13:40 When we go to doctor with our diseases, 13:43 the doctor says the water is the cause. 13:47 He is asking us to drink purified water, 13:48 but we can't afford to buy that water. 13:52 So we have to drink this water and get these diseases. 13:57 The purified water that is around here 14:00 has so much chlorine that it's harder to drink 14:03 than the salt water. 14:04 So I just wondered, do we have an idea of a solution 14:08 for this problem here? 14:10 Yes, I was talking with the church pastor. 14:12 Okay. 14:13 And he read on a magazine, 14:15 a local newspaper that there is a project 14:20 to clean this water, purify it, and they store it in a tank. 14:25 Okay. 14:26 For the public they give a coin which is about one rupee coin. 14:29 Okay. 14:31 They insert inside the machine 14:33 and they get 20 liters of water, purified water. 14:36 Wonderful. 14:37 So I've asked the pastor to enquire 14:40 about how much it will cost 14:42 and what are those things need to be done. 14:42 Okay. 14:43 So first of all we need a borewell 14:46 right in this church. 14:47 Okay. Because there is no water here. 14:49 Okay. 14:50 And I was told that there is no other water sources nearby 14:54 like river or a pond or anything else. 14:56 So people 100 percent they are depending 14:57 on the ground water here in this village. 15:02 So it is important that we have a bore drilling 15:05 here in the church. 15:07 And then if you plant that purifying water, 15:10 it will be a great blessing. 15:11 And right now I was told that 15:14 in order to get a good purified water, 15:17 they are paying 30 rupees for that 20 liters. 15:20 Wow, 30? Wow. Yes. 15:22 And where the poor people are not afford to do it, 15:26 they are forced to drink this salty water. 15:29 Yes. 15:30 And as a result, like you said, 15:31 they end up having all these physical problems. 15:34 Yes, yes. 15:35 And the most saddest part is, sometimes they even get cancer. 15:40 Oh, no. 15:41 And the bones are so weak. 15:41 Yes. 15:44 You know, it's very sad. Yes. 15:46 But something has to be done about it. 15:47 Exactly. 15:48 So I'm glad to hear that there is a solution. 15:51 Yes, there is a solution. 15:53 By God's grace if you get a good drinking, 15:56 purified water here itself without any chlorine or any, 16:00 you know, chemicals, it will be a blessing for us. 16:03 You know, I thought really almost foolish 16:06 years ago when we came here 16:08 and we did a health presentation 16:09 and we talked about nutrition and pure water. 16:14 And it wasn't until, afterwards that I found out 16:17 that this village, they don't have pure water. 16:19 They can't get it. Yes. 16:21 So I felt a bit foolish I must say, 16:23 because it is so important to health 16:25 to have fundamental basics. 16:29 Pure water is a fundamental basic need that we all need. 16:33 Yes, you are right. 16:34 So I really want to thank you for sharing. 16:56 We decided to investigate the myriad of complaints 16:58 from the villagers of Harur 17:00 as a result of drinking the salty water 17:02 of their village. 17:04 How could so many health problems 17:07 result from drinking salty water? 17:09 As it turns out, our research shows 17:13 that the salty taste of the water 17:15 is the least of the problems. 17:17 The people blame the salt, not knowing that 17:20 one of the greatest problems with their water is fluoride, 17:24 which causes fluorosis. 17:26 Nearly every complaint that was expressed 17:29 from ingesting this salty water is attributable to fluoride. 17:34 Fluoride and other contaminants 17:37 also enter the body through ingested food 17:40 that has been grown in the contaminated water. 17:44 Other toxic contaminants such as arsenic, 17:47 iron, nitrates, heavy metals 17:50 and chloroform can be found in the water 17:53 in different areas of India in un-permissible levels. 17:58 All of these contaminants carry in their train 18:01 nothing but woe and misery for men, 18:05 women, children and livestock. 18:26 Today is an exciting day 18:29 for the village of Bharathy Nagar. 18:31 Through the generous contributions 18:33 of donors in North America, 18:35 Jesus for Asia was able to hire a crew to drill a well 18:39 next to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 18:42 And nearby Hindu temple 18:44 had attempted to drill a well seven months ago, 18:47 but they did not find any water. 18:50 We were praying earnestly that 18:52 God will provide water in our well to be a witness 18:55 to the whole village of His power and love. 19:34 So this well that I know 19:36 God is gonna bring water from today, 19:39 it's gonna make a huge impact on this village. 19:42 Definitely, yes. 19:44 It's going to be a blessing for all the village people. 19:48 And that is the reason we have put this well, you know, here. 19:51 And our church is not going to be a church for, 19:56 only for Seventh-day Adventists, 19:58 it's going to be a place 20:00 where people will quench their thirst from today on. 20:03 Wonderful. 20:04 So we thank the Lord for this beautiful project, 20:07 the vision for this project. 20:10 Absolutely. That's great. 20:11 I mean what a testimony it can be in this village 20:14 where not everyone is a Christian. 20:16 Exactly. You're right. 20:18 It is going to bring a very good impact 20:22 on our church. 20:22 It sounds like we need to do this 20:24 in quite a few other villages. 20:25 Oh, yes, yes. 20:26 There are so many other villages 20:28 where they don't have water. 20:29 Some places they have, but it's a salty water, 20:32 but still people are using the same salty water. 20:36 So, you know, we are in need of more bores like this. 20:59 In Bharathy Nagar the borewell has been drilling 21:01 for over seven hours and scores of villagers 21:04 have gathered to watch the progress. 21:08 Two hundred and fifty feet feet down the drill struck water, 21:10 but it was not enough for a well, 21:12 so we had to keep drilling. 21:14 Since then, the drill has been spewing only dust. 21:17 And there's great worry that this well will also be dry 21:21 like the one next to the Hindu temple. 21:24 Everyone is hoping and praying 21:26 that soon we will see a small change 21:28 in the color of the dust 21:30 indicating the presence of water. 21:34 Right now we are nearing about 760 feet. 21:39 And now the dust which comes out 21:40 is a little wet, and that's a very good sign. 22:04 When the borewell was drilling, I just came this side, 22:08 you know, backside of the church 22:10 to see those men who were drilling, 22:13 to talk to them, I was surprised to see, 22:16 there were two ladies at each side of the church, 22:21 crying bitterly, 22:22 praying to the Lord for the water. 22:26 You know, I was completely touched, 22:30 because the whole church was praying. 22:32 Wonderful. 22:33 Everyone was praying. 22:37 Because as we mentioned, it is kind of, you know, 22:40 Satan didn't have water, 22:42 but the living God what is it with Him, 22:46 you know, like, what is He going to do? 22:49 He did a miraculous thing. 22:56 We have prayed, and prayed, not only one day or two days, 23:02 a very long time we prayed here in this chapel. 23:06 Really, God has answered to our prayers. 23:11 Since we are praying here in faith, that faith today, 23:17 we have seen with our eyes 23:20 that borewell is already done here. 23:23 We will get water. 23:25 Really, the God is great. 23:27 He will help not only with water, 23:29 in every need, our God will provide for us. 23:35 Unfortunately, we could not stay in the village 23:37 to taste the water. 23:38 But before we left for another area of India, 23:41 a couple of villagers came to our hotel 23:43 and brought a sample of the water 23:45 for Israel to taste. 23:47 The water is discolored because of the grease 23:49 from the drilling. 23:50 But all the greasy water will be pumped out 23:52 and it will be clear after that. 23:57 Is this water... 23:58 I mean, a lot of the water in India 24:00 can have a salty taste. 24:01 You're gonna be able to determine 24:04 if this is salty or if it has a sweet taste. 24:08 Yes, yes. 24:09 We're exciting. 24:10 Okay. 24:16 It is very nice, no salt, 24:17 only the grease taste was there. 24:20 You know, if all those grease and everything is gone, 24:23 the water is really tasty. 24:28 The Hindu people from across the street 24:30 thought we spent so much money, but didn't find water. 24:34 But this morning they saw the church members 24:36 letting a bottle down with a rope 24:38 and when they pulled it up, there was water. 24:41 After the church member tasted the water, 24:45 a Hindu man tasted and said, wow, it's nice drinking water. 24:49 What an amazing witness for God. 24:52 Despite the evidence that seem to indicate 24:55 that drilling a well would be useless, 24:57 God blessed the faith and prayers of His people 25:00 by providing water in the well. 25:08 Pastor Gabriel is the minister 25:09 for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Harur. 25:13 We asked him to explain the potential impact 25:16 if we provide clean water for his village. 25:20 I think if we can drill a borewell and purify the water 25:24 and give it to the people, then through that 25:27 we can share the love of Jesus 25:29 and many people will turn from the world and follow Him. 25:33 I think of the Samaritan woman who met Jesus 25:37 while she went to get water. 25:38 And many people came to know about Him 25:41 because of her witness. 25:42 The same way, this place can be a blessing 25:46 if we have good water. 25:48 Because the biggest need of this village is water. 25:52 If we give them good water, 25:53 then they will be opened to the gospel. 26:00 Here in the first world, our water supply is abundant. 26:03 As a matter of fact, my family and I 26:06 use more than 100 times the amount of water 26:09 that some families in India get in a day. 26:13 That got me thinking. 26:15 Pure water is a basic human need as is the gospel. 26:20 No one should have to suffer for lack of water 26:23 or be poisoned by contaminated water, 26:25 especially the children. 26:27 Yet our brothers and sisters 26:30 are suffering from these dangers. 26:33 The water crisis in India 26:35 is a tremendous evangelistic opportunity 26:38 for the 97 million people who lack access to pure water 26:43 and a saving knowledge of their only hope, Jesus Christ. 26:47 While their biggest felt need is water, 26:50 the greater need is Christ. 26:53 While here on earth, 26:54 He spent most of His ministry 26:56 meeting the felt needs of the people. 26:58 After winning their confidence, 27:01 they were then opened to hear His teachings. 27:04 In providing pure water, 27:06 we're following Christ's example 27:08 by meeting their needs. 27:10 His love is seen in our actions and their hearts are softened, 27:14 the walls of prejudice are broken down. 27:18 When we drill a well on church property, 27:20 everyone who goes there to satisfy their thirst 27:24 is made aware of a greater thirst 27:27 that only Christ can quench. 27:31 We're so thankful for the donors 27:33 that made this well in Bharathy Nagar possible. 27:37 But many more need to be drilled 27:39 and more research is needed on water purification systems. 27:43 Please consider partnering with us today 27:46 to help meet both the physical and spiritual crisis 27:51 that these many villages in India face. |
Revised 2016-12-20