Saving lives for Eternity!

Kenya Midyear 2011 Update

2011-06-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

Kenya is a country of diversity, challenges, hope, and constant change. In the 5 years that we have been working in Western Kenya we have made many friends and learned so many things about the local people, the government, and the environment. It is amazing how kind and gentle and happy people generally are. The families we serve not only appreciate that we are giving the children clean drinking water but they also come together as a community and help maintain the systems and then give us guidance on where to go next and even suggest needy widows in the regions that may need our help. Even in a culture that for generations has depended on hand outs, the people we meet are generous and caring and often looking out for the needs of others rather than themselves. While most people hope and pray that the government will satisfy the real needs of the people (food, water, education, health care) they also understand that this change will come but it will be slow. In the mean time people pull together and try to help each other. What an amazing place! We are thankful to be able to work with the rural people of Kenya and blessed that the government officials and church leaders have been so supportive of our mission projects.

During the last few years we have refined our project designs and project management practices and have been able to streamline each rain water project and improve both our system quality and our training. Working with the county mag

istrates and regional MPs we have improved our approach to school selection while also delivering more systems in less time. We have had similar improvements in responsiveness for our Cows for Life program where we provide cows to needy widows in the regions around where we work for water systems. Just this year we have provided 15 schools with new rain water collection systems. At the same time we have been blessed with kind donors that have allowed us to give 10 widows dairy cows so that they can now take care of themselves and their families and have a means of self supportive income.

But what is next? During the rest of this year we are continuing our efforts to improve the filtration systems that we use for the water as it e

xits the collection tanks and we are also further improving our installation process to minimize maintenance and repair issues that have been caused by violent storms or just poor material selections during installation. Every system we install gives us an opportunity to improve. We use all local craftsman for the fabrication and installation of the gutter and downspout systems. These men have continued to help improve things and as we provide them with better tools they provide us with better solutions. We have such a great team system in place.

In a similar fashion, the widows that have been blessed to receive cows over the past two years have banded together and now help teach those

that are just receiving a cow how to better care and feed the animal. We have developed two widows coops and will continue to help these ladies find new ways of funding the purchase of farm lands and we will continue to provide these groups with the seed funds and initial cows to help get them started as they seek to help each other and change the lives of the entire group.

In general, we use our talents and abilities and the methods available to us here to train and develop better solutions and better leaders in Kenya with each and every new water system or cow delivered. Sustainable, changing, growing self supportive projects that change lives! All because of the generous donations of people like yourself.

We look forward to reporting on our last group of schools and widows that we have provided help for soon. Check back for new pictures and new information. Life is good and getting better in Kenya!

Missions 2010 - They're waiting

2010-11-20T21:17:00.000-08:00

The children from Nyamagesa Boarding school were blessed with two clean drinking water systems this year! Grow Missions provided one that is connected to the main school building while a mission group from the UK provided a second one attached to the new library building. In April we were also blessed with a large shipment of books from one of our dearest friends in Florida so that this library and one other could have the supplies they needed to teach the children and parents about the love of Jesus.

Water, books, buildings - and the Words of Life found in the Holy Bible. The children and families of rural Africa are waiting. God asks us the question, "How will they know?" and calls us to take the truth to those that are in need... to the hungry and the poor, the needy and the lost. They are waiting. Waiting for you!

During 2010 we have been blessed with funds to provide 8 fresh drinking water systems. Times are hard and our fund raising efforts have been slow to bear fruit this year. Yet, in the midst of these struggles God has still provided. Over 4000 more children and their families now have clean water. In addition, we have sponsored a student pastor to help teach the families around these villages the truth of God's Word. God has also somehow enabled the sending of funds for cows, and through this, He has empowered four more widows in attaining a new, sustaining way of life. If only you could see the faces of these women and their children as they receive a cow, assuring them that God is truly providing for them. They have a new outlook on life, and a renewed trust that God has heard and answered their fervent prayers.

Now as we approach the end of the year, we are in the final planning stages of our year- end mission trip to Kenya. During this trip we will be building three more rain water collections systems and another 1500 children will be saved by the ability to now drink clean water. We have also established 10 campaign centers where we will be teaching God's Word for the first two weeks of December to thousands of people seeking a better life. A life with Jesus! Please join us in prayer as we seek God's guidance and blessings for this mission adventure. May the hearts and minds of those that He has prepared to come to these meetings be open to the truth, and may our hearts be prepared for the journey. In all things we do, we seek only to glorify His name!

Thank you for your continued support for both our humanitarian efforts and the evangelistic crusades. God has instilled in us an enormous fervor for the great work ahead of us! We hope you can join us soon either in the mission field or here at home in financial or spiritual support. Let's do it together!

They are waiting for you....

World Water Day - March 22, 2010

2010-03-10T09:17:00.000-08:00

"We shall not finally defeat AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, or any of the other infectious diseases that plague the developing world until we have also won the battle for safe drinking-water, sanitation and basic health care."

Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General

March 22, 2010 is World Water Day. Established by the UN in 2005, this is a day to bring awareness to the world and help get people active and involved in addressing the issue of water in the developing and developed countries.

Here are some facts:

■ 1.1 billion people (17% of the global population) lacked access to improved water sources.
■ Over half of the world's population has access to improved water through household connections or yard taps.
■ Of the 1.1 billion without improved water sources, nearly two thirds live in Asia.
■ In sub-Saharan Africa, 42% of the population is still without improved water supply.
■ Between 2002 and 2015, the world's population is expected to increase every year by 74.8 million people.
■ 88% of diarrheal disease is attributed to unsafe water supply, inadequate sanitation and hygiene.
■ Improved water supply reduces diarrhea morbidity between 6% and 25%, if severe outcomes are included.
■ Improved sanitation reduces diarrhea morbidity by 32%.
■ Hygiene interventions including hygiene education and promotion of hand washing can lead to a reduction of diarrheal cases by up to 45%.
■ Improvements in drinking-water quality through household water treatment, such as chlorination at point-of-use, can lead to a reduction of diarrhea episodes between 35% and 39%.
■ Improper planning of dam and irrigation projects has led to rapid intensification of transmission of malaria and schistosomiasis; for example, in development areas of the Senegal River Basin schistosomiasis prevalence shot up from 0 to 90% in a period of less than 2 years.

Why should we care? I would like to answer this question with a question... Why did Jesus care? In Matthew 25 we are called to action and told of our charter. Care for the poor! Give water to the thirsty! Give of ourselves if we are to receive the gift of life in return.

One day each year the world comes together to make a statement and show we care. Children need water to survive. This year we are asking you to get involved! Take action! Organize a fund raising event! Ask your church if you can take a special donation for World Water Day.

Give of your time and your talents.

Please help.

Water... It's free! Right?

2009-10-16T12:20:00.000-07:00

From the FLOW:TheFilm web page:

The latest documentary from the award-winning Irena Salina is an investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century - The World Water Crisis.

Salina builds a case against the growing privatization of the world's dwindling fresh water supply with an unflinching focus on politics, pollution, human rights, and the emergence of a domineering world water cartel.

Interviews with scientists and activists intelligently reveal the rapidly building crisis, at both the global and human scale, and the film introduces many of the governmental and corporate culprits behind the water grab, while begging the question "CAN ANYONE REALLY OWN WATER?"

Beyond identifying the problem, FLOW also gives viewers a look at the people and institutions providing practical solutions to the water crisis and those developing new technologies, which are fast becoming blueprints for a successful global and economic turnaround.

This is dramatic and we need to sit up and pay attention! For the past three years Grow Missions has been providing clean drinking water solutions to rural schools in Kenya. We have provided clean water for over 12,500 children and their families. We use rain water systems for maximum effectiveness and minimal effect on the environment. While these corporations (depicted in FLOW:TheFilm) can not catch nor regulate nor stop the FLOW of water provided from the heavens, we MUST take action before they dry up rivers and streams and increse the number that struggle from lack of clean drinking water.

It is time to take action! Support the efforts to provide the poor and needy with clean drinking water AND support the efforts to stop the privitization of the worlds water resoruces. See the film, you will be surprized!

Ready, Set, DO!

2009-08-10T16:50:00.000-07:00

What will it take to get us moving?

In the world of track and field the athletes line up at the start and they call, "Ready!". At this point all the competitors are at the start and ready to take off and compete for the prize. The next call is "Set" and they get into the race position and await the starting gun. With adrenalin pumping, elevated heart rates, and an eye on the competition, all the athletes are ready to go! But in that race, only one can win! They all compete for the prize, but there is only one winner.

But what if the call were different? What if the call was one that goes out to all the athletes, all the citizens, all the members, and in the race, each one can receive a prize. What if, in this race (the race of life), each person can in fact win. The start is the same. We all come to the race. We all line up with our skills and abilities. The call is made, "Ready?"! And we get to the starting line and start to focus. The next call comes, "Set"! And we get in a position to run the race, to make a difference. Then the final call comes. But in this race, the race of life, the call comes as "DO!". Ready, Set, and DO! In the race of life our call is to DO SOMETHING. In this race the same sequence is there at the beginning. We come and are ready. We get set to enter the race as we come closer to each other, and closer to our creator. And then when the gun is ready to sound; when the race is ready to be run, it is our time to DO SOMETHING.

In the race of life it is often all about just that, doing something. We all enter the race at some point. What makes us different from one another is that some of us jump off the starting line and run the race to the best of our ability. We do something with whatever we have. Whatever skills we have. Whatever funds we have. Whatever we have. We just do something because we want to and we can. We no longer sit at the start waiting for the right moment, or waiting for another start. We take off and do whatever we can.

I encourage you this day to get in the race! Do something! Do anything! The race has started, people are in need all over the world. You have been given the skills, the funds, and the abilities to do something for someone else. Let's win this one together!

Social Media Makeover!

2009-07-15T11:02:00.000-07:00

Please join in the effort and vote for Grow Missions (Austin, TX) and help us win a social media makeover. As we endeavor to tell the world about the critical situation in Africa and the desperate need for clean drinking water, we need to use all the social media outlets we can. Not being experts in this field, we are always looking for help. This opportunity can bring us the much needed support to GROW our awareness and support.

Please help or contact us directly if you want to further assist in these efforts. If we all pull together and tell all our friends we can raise the funds and save lives in Africa.

Thank you for your help!

Where is local?

2009-06-29T11:10:00.000-07:00

We should focus our efforts here at home!

This statement may ring true for water conservation or just in general for caring for the poor. But at Grow Missions we try to take a larger global view and really understand the critical needs and struggles of poor people here and in remote parts of the world.

In recent news reports we are amazed to read that nearly two thirds of the world population still do not have access to clean drinking water and that this is not a priority in our global fight for hunger or elimination of HIV/Aids. So, where do we put our focus, or our funds to make the biggest change? We look for where each dollar can make the largest impact in changing a life and a community in such a way that these problems are eliminated for good.

This is why Grow Missions focuses our efforts in the remote parts of Kenya and Burundi. These areas struggle with basic survival. The day in the life of women and children is centered around where to get water before it is too dirty or gone. Women and children walk miles and then carry heavy buckets of water on their backs up hills and home. Focused only on survival these children have no time for school and the women deal with constant pains. As we sit here and talk about where we can make the largest difference in the lives of people in need, the poor of this world, we are constantly drawn back to these women and children. Yes, there is a struggle here at home; yes, we have hungry and poor around us here; But these children do not even have clean water to drink. And, it will be years before the governments in these countries can even start to resolve this crisis. So, as the Grow Missions staff meets, we agree that we must go where the need is great and the results are amazing.

We choose to work in Kenya and Burundi because we can make a great impact and save a great many lives for a relatively small cost. There are few places where we can spend just a little and change the lives of so many so quickly and permanently.

So in a time when many are focusing efforts here at home, we continue to look at home in the larger context. We are all one on this earth and we need to care for each other and make sure that everyone has at least the basics needed to survive. Water in Africa is a project that is far away, but for us it feels like home.