After driving six hours across some of the worst “roads” in Burkina Faso (dirt paths with holes the size of Volkswagons) we finally arrived in the village af Kareena. In all that time we only saw 2 other vehicles. We had been told that this community was one which had great need for clean drinking water. It is a very large and remote village with over 850 people and only one working well.
When we arrived we met a pastor there named Pastor Jacques. He gave us a tour of his village and shared their desperate need for water. Well, needless to say when the people of this village saw their pastor walking around with some white guys, it was quite the buzz, and before long we had well over 100 people following us around.
This amazing and articulate man said some of the most profound things to us during our entire trip. At one point we were sitting around an old well which had dried up, surrounded by his fellow villagers, and he challenged us by saying, “If all of the people of my village came together and screamed at the top of our lungs, no one in America would hear us. We have no voice…you are our voice.”
Logan and Conner filmed an interview with this pastor for possible use on their website www.drytears.org or in a DVD that could be shared back here in the states. One of them asked Pastor Jacques what impact water would have on the people of his village. He said that you could not even begin to realize just how powerful and impactful water is to their very existence. Much of every day is trying to figure out how to get, use, conserve, store, and ration water…it is their very life. He went on to say that not only does water meet the physical needs of his village, but even more importantly, it opens the door to help meet the spiritual needs of the people.
When asked how this was possible, Pastor Jacques answered, “Water is evangelism without words.” He went on to explain that when the people of Kareena (or any remote village) inquire as to why Americans would come to Africa, find them, and build a well, he gets to tell them about how much God loves them and that God put the desire in our hearts to do this for them to show them just how much He loves them. This is such a strong message of hope for these people who have no hope that they are drawn into wanting to come to know this God who would do this great thing for them.