by our OSDW reporter
Wednesday, Feb. 9 — Bocas del Toro reached a milestone.
The SIXTIETH rain catchment tank was installed to
provide safe, clean water for our indigenous neighbors.
Bocas del Toro’s CATCH, STORE AND SHARE campaign
uses its abundant rainfall to bring safe water to our indigenous
neighbors who suffer from bad water.
Joe Bass, founder of Operation Safe Drinking Water, said
“with an average of 250 students and villagers getting safe water
from each of our tanks, 15,000 people will now have reliable, safe water.”
See where the sixty tanks are. Click here.
The results are in.
School principals report a huge drop in sickness
and absenteeism.
The story of a tank called “SIXTY”
“They’re back again,” our rep reported.
Three times a group from the village of Alta Refugio came
all the way from their village high in the mountains
to ask for a tank for their 45 students and 150 villagers.
Alta Refugio mens “high refuge” — and high it was!
And deep into the jungle, too.
‘SIXTY’, as we called it, would not be easy.
In fact, it turned out to be our toughest
tank installation yet.
Here’s the story — minus the mud, heat, sweat and bugs.
End of the road. A team from the village waited there to carry
the tank and all supplies high into the mountains and jungle.
They left after us but got there long before us.
They didn’t have to stop and gasp for breath as we did.
They muscled the ungainly 600-gallon tank up the trail
in ankle-deep mud. We followed, plodding step by step.
Huffing and puffing, Joe made it twenty minutes
after the men who carried the tank. He said,
“trading my golf shoes for muddy boots is
no trite phrase at my age.”
Alta Refugio – a neat, clean village of homes, school and
friendly people sits atop the mountain. That single path with
its ankle-deep mud is the only way to the top.
Joe said, “our Iowa volunteers climbed up on the school
roof and went to work. Just getting myself up that mountain
was all I could do.”
The village had a lot of sickness among children
from water like this.
Which will now
be replaced with
water like this.
Our rain catchment system SIXTY
is now producing safe, clean, disease – free
water for this indigenous village — and will for
years to come.
The village chief said, “I thank you for helping
my people and invite you to come back as soon as it rains to
drink the first water from the tank with us.”
Joe replied, ” Thanks, but I’ll take a rain check on that.”
Safe drinking water is essential for good health.
Without it, medical help is reduced to a vicious cycle of disease,
treatment, then more disease.
Without safe water no other help means much.
Education and opportunities mean little.
Without it, all other efforts to help are undermined.
It all starts with safe drinking water.
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