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The veteran Living
Waters system operator in
Xkeulil, in the Mexican state
of Campeche, Santiago Tun,
was surprised recently when
city ofcials asked him to
come before the council for a
special commendation.
Santiago has been the
volunteer operator of the
water system since 2005,
producing clean water for
the entire community. The
city commission expressed
gratitude for his faithful
service, which has resulted
in much better health for
everyone in the village.
A letter of commenda-
tion signed by the municipal
commissioner of Xkeulil de-
clared,. “…We present sin-
cere gratitude for the altru-
istic work done in the com-
munity, in making available
at low cost bottles of purifed
water, which are used by the
majority of the households
and which help much in the
economy of the families.”
The letter expressed hope
“that you continue with
your noble work” and de-
clared “infnite gratitude for
your valuable help, for the
beneft of the community.”
Living Waters congratu-
lates Santiago, too!
Santiago Tun is the tall man in the back of
this frequently-used LWW publicity photo.
Santiago Tun —
System operator
wins offcial praise
By ROD BROTHERTON
The team from First Presbyterian
Church in Lexington, Ky., has had what
should be considered one of the most
successful, heartwarming and doubly
benefcial programs that has ever ex-
isted in the Living Waters program.
Our partner in a tiny village outside
Campeche in the Yucatan Peninsula
named Betania has been such a bless-
ing to its American partners that we
can never repay the lessons in humil-
ity, hard work and pride that this small
church has given us.
Three years ago, LWW 103 engineer
Jim Booth, Jim Sprow and 101 and 102
members Eric and Libby Iverson and
I looked out on a barren hardscrabble
backyard of a church and scratched our
heads.
How in the world could these people
undertake such a task? There were
multiple issues with the location, not
the least of which included being lo-
cated on a nearly bedrock locale. How
could these people, with no access to
modern technology, solve the basic
problem of percolation and waste water
disposal?
If running 220 volt electrical lines
safely from the road and constructing a
free-standing building at the rear of the
site weren’t enough, “easements” were
non-existant and there was the nag-
ging problem of getting rid of the waste
water.
Our partners said all of our questions
would be addressed and solved.
Zoom forward to our next visit. A
hole nearly 4 feet wide and over 13 feet
deep had been dug beside a newly con-
structed cinder block building.
To our amazement, the men of the
church had every day, pick axed about
6 inches of rock out of the seemingly
diamond-hard ground.
“Just a little bit every day,” was what
they said. Since then, the building has
become the center of the town with
water being distributed to the adjacent
school and the needy.
The building is spotless and the mem-
bers beam with pride. They have added
another storage tank, purchased two
generators and wired them into the
system to avoid power outages.
They also added a corrugated alumi-
num roof over the entire width of the
property to shield the storage tanks and
to make a covered patio for the church.
While we were amazed, the humble
brothers and sisters of Betania shrug
their shoulders and ask if we would
share a meal with them. Grace under
adversity and sharing, you see, have no
monetary asset requirements.
Rod Brotherton is a CWU-103 graduate on
the water team at First Presbyterian Church in
Lexington, Ky.
The ‘little Mexican church that could’
scratches a system out of solid rock
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