Jesus Wells Bring Life-Saving Water to Millions in Africa
The global water crisis continues to threaten billions of lives, with large lakes shrinking since the early 1990s. As World Water Day highlights this urgent need, one organization is making a significant impact through an initiative known as “Jesus wells.”
“About 2.2 billion people have no access to safe drinking water, and 829,000 of them will die this year from waterborne diseases, most of which could be prevented,” said Bishop Daniel Timotheos Yohannan, president of GFA World. “This is something we should all care about.”
The Bucket Ministry and other Christian organizations are working to address this crisis, with millions across Africa and Asia bracing for the annual drought season. Water shortages spread, highlighting the global scope of this challenge. Since 2007, GFA World has drilled 40,000 freshwater wells, known as “Jesus wells,” providing safe drinking water to approximately 39 million people in some of the world’s most water-stressed regions.
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These wells, inscribed with “never thirst again” from John’s gospel, serve as community gathering spots where local people experience God’s love in practical ways. Operation Blessing transforms lives in remote villages worldwide. Global sanitation crisis affects over 3.6 billion people, making these water projects crucial for public health.
A thousand more wells
This year, GFA World plans to drill thousands more wells in drought-prone places across Africa and Asia. Each well reliably supplies clean drinking water to hundreds of people for 20 years or more, even during severe drought, the organization said. Teams typically drill 600 feet to reach fresh water, and the end result transforms local communities, saving countless lives at risk of cholera, typhoid and other often-fatal waterborne diseases.
In one village in Asia, women had to line up for two hours every day to fill their water jugs from the nearest safe water source, trekking up to 10 miles on foot each day. When the water dried up during periods of drought, fights broke out over water at the muddy village pond, their only other option.
All of that changed when the local pastor and his congregation drilled a new well with help from the mission organization.
“The women don’t have to spend half their days hauling water,” Yohannan said. “The children no longer miss school searching for water, people don’t get sick from drinking polluted water and so many are encouraged seeing their communities transformed by Christ’s love.”
For more information about GFA World’s water projects in Africa and Asia, visit GFA water projects.
–Dwight Widaman
