For the love of clean water

Life revolves around a search for water in many places in Africa. It’s what a mother thinks about when she wakes up and most moments throughout her day. She will walk an average of eight miles to carry a 20-gallon, 45-pound bucket back to her family. Often she grows dehydrated or sick before she returns home, only to begin the process again the next day.

But life changes with a well nearby. A mother has time to rest and can stay healthy. A girl who used to carry water can return to school.

And that is why Gary and Elizabeth Wilkins moved to the continent from their 280 area home a decade ago to start their work through By Provision.

“It happens every day (that a child dies from bad drinking water) and will continue to happen until someone does something about it,” Elizabeth said.

For Gary, drilling wells is how he tangibly shows love to people in need and shares his Christian faith.

In 2012 alone, the By Provision dug 47 wells and rehabilitated 24 others, bringing their total number of wells drilled since beginning their work to 530. This year they are taking advantage of having a fourth drill that can dig into rock formations, allowing them to help communities they could not have helped before.

Seeing statistics brought to life has changed the way the Wilkins view water: according to Elizabeth, 8 billion people have no access to clean water in the world; every 7 seconds a child dies from drinking bad water; when you flush a toilet once, it uses more water than one member of an African community needs to stay alive for a whole day.

“There is a tremendous need in the world, not just in Africa, yet it is so overlooked. That is where we are trying to plug in and make whatever difference we can make,” Gary said.

Gary originally moved out to the 280 area in 1990 to help start the Church at Brook Hills. He had often gone on mission trips, several a year, taking advantage of the flexibility of being self-employed as a commercial subcontractor for 26 years.

On a trip to Mali, West Africa in 1990, he was able to see how a mission there was using provision of water as a tangible way to express love and provide for their physical needs.

That trip stayed with him, Elizabeth said.

“As I approached 50, I had a passion to do missions,” Gary said. “I had seen so many people put it off until their 60s or 70s.”

And so he decided it was time to join Elizabeth, who, having always done full-time religious work, said she was just waiting for him to get on board.

Gary sold his business, and in 2002 the couple landed in Lwanda, Angola, where they built eight refugee camps and churches and trained literacy workers.

“We have seen great needs on every continent, but Angola far surpassed anything we had seen,” Elizabeth said.

During their first year, they asked local Christian leaders what their greatest need was. Their response: water.

“It was our greatest need while we were there, but we didn’t put it together (until they said it),” Elizabeth said.

It was then that they found their long-term calling. The Wilkins came back to the U.S. to start paper work to begin a faith-based nonprofit and underwent training for well drilling in Alabama, Texas and Florida and Guatemala.

In January 2004, they purchased a drill rig in Houston and shipped it to Angola. The couple drilled and maintained wells there before moving their home base south in 2007 to Northern Namibia, where they currently live. From there, they can travel to well sites in central in Angola, Namibia and northwest Botswana—all within an eight-hour drive.

A full time health and hygiene worker accompanies the Wilkins when they drill and teaches the local residents skills like how to wash their hands.

The Wilkins also show them how to care for the pump and how to use clean containers to collect water.

“We train them in the things that we grow up learning,” Elizabeth said. “Immediately we see a change in the health in people, especially the children.”

Today, more than 100 communities who have formally sent a letter requesting a well are on the waiting list for By Provision. And there are many more places the Wilkins know about in the region that do not have an available supply of clean drinking water.

Other letters they receive voice how people are tired of seeing crocodiles eat their children on their way to get water, or that they see dust that needs to be clean.

“It doesn’t make sense to us, but we have to laugh because otherwise we would be suicidal,” Elizabeth said.

The Wilkins encourage those back home to get involved — donate to the cause, come help, or even just help educate others, including children, about the need for clean water.

“Nobody can fix everything, but we can all offer something,” Elizabeth said.

To learn more about By Provision, visit ByProvision.org.