Portable Water finally in Naandi County provided by parish priest for all!

 When Fr. Christopher Hartley arrived in Yambio to take Pastoral Care for two Parishes, Saints. Peter and Paul Parish, Naandi, and The Most Holy Trinity Parish, Andari, were made aware of the difficulty in accessing clean drinking water or any kind of water for domestic use especially during dry seasons in Western Equatoria State of South Sudan.

 “In particular I was informed that both communities in Naandi and Andari were suffering terribly due to shortage of water and I myself experienced the suffering firsthand when I arrived as I had no way to find water to take care of our own needs at the parish,” Fr. Christopher, a diocesan priest of the archdiocese of Toledo in Spain who currently works in the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio explained.

 “I remember in the first days and the first month how at any time of the day or night, at 2 pm or 2 am, if we heard the drop of rain, we would rush out, get dressed very quickly in the middle of the night and come out with their pitchers and buckets and any kind of container to collect the rainwater because we had great difficulty in providing water for our parish house and the residents.”

Witnessing the struggles of his parishioners to get water, people walking for miles, little children carrying huge heavy loads of containers, gallons, jerry cans, and any container one could possibly imagine and walking for miles and miles was simply heartbreaking to Fr. Christopher. He said that it was particularly painful to watch especially the children and the elderly and this compelled him to do something and he managed to mobilize funds and drilled a borehole which has since changed the situation.

 “So thanks to some good friends who recommended a particular drilling company, we engaged in signing a contract and proceeded to begin the drilling.”

 Unfortunately, the effort proved challenging as he had already been warned. The first drilling attempts were an absolute failure because all they could find was the dust of the rock and not a single drop of water, a situation Fr. Christopher described it as very disheartening and discouraging.

 “God knows how many prayers, memorares, intentions of Mass I dedicated to this particular need and we were very blessed that the third time we tried drilling quite a little far from the parish but in the center of town and water was found at about 160 meters of depth.”

 As such, the parish is providing water to the community, and although it doesn't address the needs of every person as there are many people who live far away and are still struggling.

“This is a very small humble contribution that the church is making to alleviate this tragedy but at least we have the certitude that people are drinking clean water, that people have access to proper water and I've seen horrible scenes, I've seen children collecting water in jerry cans from the puddles by the roadside, I mean water that just looks like chocolate,” Fr. Christopher explained adding that he has also seen people collecting water from lagoons, infested water, putrid water that he is sure must do a lot of harm to people's health and to people's well-being.

 “So with this project, we're providing a water source of clean, purified, wonderful water for the people and we are providing water for our residence such that during the dry seasons, our struggles are alleviated as we might not run out of water.”

By Rurugene Online Team