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website, including watching the LWW
video, has been a favorite in my college
health classes.
This is what some of the students at the
University of Alabama at Birmingham have
written:
• “Mission team members are able to
form long-lasting relationships…it’s not
only about the water, but about those
relationships.”
•“I know plenty of people who would
be willing to go on missions like that with
all of the training included. I know I would
definitely love to go.”
•“The fact that communities know that
water is made available to them with love
and care helps them feel secure, safe, and
loved.”
• “My knowledge about how much the
water supply affects our bodies and our
lives was not as strong as it is now…I feel
that what these organizations do and the
measures that are taken to ensure that
others have healthier lives is amazing in so
many different ways.”
• “LWW takes it a step further and
spreads the word of God to the people of
the community where they install filtra-
tion systems, giving the churches in the
area an opportunity to witness to others
who do not have clean water, while educat-
ing them on how to provide their own
communities with clean water. “
• ”The most important part, in my
opinion, is that they not only give fresh wa-
ter, but they give the Living Water. Teach-
ing them about Jesus is the most important
thing anyone could do in this life. Hope-
fully the people they reach will pass on the
Living Water as well.”
Donna Burnett is a member of First Presbyterian
Church of Birmingham, Ala., and a college faculty
member.
By DONNA BURNETT
The academic preparation of the people
who have come together in service at
LWW is outstanding. It creates an excellent
platform from which to introduce college
University students’ homework: Learn LWW
students to volunteerism.
The people and work of LWW are edu-
cating students about community-level
solutions to global environmental health
issues. An assignment to review the LWW
6
By A. MEAGHAN BEALL
Living Waters for the World (LWW) is an organization close to my heart.
I have been on mission trips to Central America and have seen the poverty and
lack of sanitation. I worked in a small community that basically made mud huts
on the side of a mountain and had no source of running water. They traveled
daily to retrieve water, and then it was not necessarily sanitary.
I would like to do more work in developing countries to provide clean water
for as many as possible. Becoming involved with an organization like LWW
would offer a unique opportunity and experience to participate in establishing
affordable life-altering clean water systems. With the technology available to us,
there is no reason not to help countries in need.
The effects of LWW on communities are astronomically life-changing! This
faith-based service organization produces phenomenal results by establishing
clean, sustainable, affordable water and providing education and classes for the
people of the communities to become self-sufficient at running the systems.
These classes trained some to manage the water system, fix technical issues, and
clean the system. Other classes taught members of the community how to teach
basic sanitation to the community.
In Clean Water U, leaders learn how to set up a water system and maintain it.
One man traveled from Kenya to learn this affordable, sustainable technology to
take back to his community.
LWW not only provides community-based clean water systems, training, and
faith-based education, it does something more amazing—it provides hope!
I would love to participate with this organization in the future. I love the cel-
ebration they have in each community after their work is finished and they have
established the clean, sustainable water systems. This celebration shows the hope
they have given the community in which they served.
A. Meaghan Beall of Pelham, Ala., is a student of Donna O. Burnett at the University of Ala-
bama at Birmingham.
One student’s testimony:
Not just water, but hope
International Networks Conference,
first ever, planned in Guatemala in 2013
By WIL HOWIE
With excitement and anticipation, the Field Operations
Team of Living Waters for the World announces the first Inter-
national Networks Conference to be held October 28-Novem-
ber 1, 2013.
This conference will be held in partnership with the
Guatemala Presbyterian Church (IENPG) and hosted at their
Evangelical Theological Seminary, located outside of Quet-
zaltenango, Guatemala.
In 2005, our first two networks were formed in the Yucatan,
Mexico, and in Guatemala. We now have nine international
networks: five in Central America, three in the Caribbean
and one in Africa. Each of these networks is organized and
guided by a Network Coordinating Team (NCT) and all have
at least one in-country support person.
What a huge difference all this intentional energy and focus has
made! However, all of this growth finds our volunteers and staff
hustling just to stay afloat.
Our Five-Year Strategic Planning opened our eyes to the criti-
cal and immediate need to strengthen and sustain these growing
networks. It is to that end that our first International Networks
Conference will bring together some fifty mission-critical people
for five days in Guatemala to help bring consistency, cohesion and
strength across our networks.
Stay tuned, our Planning Team is actively developing the many
details involved in building for this most important gathering.
The Rev. Wil Howie of Water Valley, Miss., is founder and executive director
of Living Waters for the World.