A BETTER TOMORROW for TURPUTIA

FRIENDS LIKE YOU GAVE VALERIO’S CHILDREN A BRIGHTER FUTURE

Valerio was thirsty. And that meant his kids were, too. His shoulders slumped as he contemplated the long trek to the contaminated well near his village—the village of Turputia. This remote community in the per day—wasn’t treated to be safe to drink, nor was it close by. You see, the people of Turputia had to get water somehow, so they tried to dig their own wells, but the water was stagnant and likely contaminated.

Valerio and his fellow villagers helped supply labor for a new water project in their village.

Since Valerio was a child, there had been no clean water access or adequate sanitation facilities in Turputia. That was just life as he knew it. And when he was little, he endured it, though he told us he often struggled with frequent ailments caused by impure water. Now, his own children, Diego (18), Dilan (7), and Abigail (3) were at risk.

Valerio wanted his children to have a better life than he’d had; he just wasn’t sure how he could give it to them. “This is my biggest worry. I can’t stand when my children don’t feel well; my children are the most important to me. I didn’t want them to grow up in the same condition I did.”

Valerio must have watched his kids play with mixed emotions, enjoying their sweet voices but feeling mounting pressure to leave them so they could have something to drink. Once again he would prepare himself to leave and go fetch more water. The path to the well was long and dangerous in bad weather, but no matter the conditions, the need for water remained.

The good news is that friends like you heard about

Continued on page 22 end. When Operation Blessing first arrived, the local people couldn’t even fathom how much life would change when clean water became available. With their help digging trenches, our team got to work. Your compassionate support soon provided a well and treatment system connected to a network of pipes that carried the clean water to every house in Turputia, including Valerio’s. This happy father was delighted that his kids could now turn on the tap and water would come streaming out— water that would have taken hours to get before. And it was clean and safe to drink!

The Operation Blessing family also built biodigester bathrooms for all the homes in the village and trained residents about proper hygiene and sanitation.

“This is a big blessing,” Valerio said, overwhelmed with gratitude. “We never had bathrooms or water. This is changing my children’s lives. It is a blessing. With this water, my children won’t get sick anymore. They will be happy. Thank you!”

Valerio and his family watch clean water stream from the tap right next to their home.