Thiangrial is a village on the banks of the White Nile. Sudanese along the river collect water for all household needs, including drinking. Naturally, this results in a host of water-borne diseases, sickness, and death. SIM provided water filters for our Basic Education Learning Center (BELC) students first, and they gave testimony to marked improvement in their health. Then we began talking to the community.

How do you help people value clean water when they have been drinking out of the Nile River for millennia? Barb Hartwig found one solution when she brought her microscope! She asked the Dinka people of Thiangrial to bring their own sample of drinking water from the river. They were shocked by what they saw moving in the river water sample under the microscope. One asked, “What would we see in clean water?” After comparing the river water to purified water, they unanimously agreed that they needed the water treatment system!

Thiangrial is the site of the pilot Rebuilding Southern Sudan: Safe Drinking Water project. We flew in a water pump, three 1200-liter water tanks, and solar panels. The water filtration system we have installed uses a solar-powered submersible pump for pumping water into the first tank for sedimentation overnight. Simple solar-powered equipment converts common salt to chlorine gas in the second tank and that kills all germs. After some hours for the chlorine to disperse, the water is pumped into a third tank and is ready to drink.

During the 23 years of civil war in South Sudan, Thiangrial was burned four times, and the villagers' cattle were stolen. With the peace accord signed in 2005, people are slowly returning to areas like Thiangrial, but it is a return to a very basic way of life. Like the Basic Education Learning Center already in place at Thiangrial, the provision of safe-clean drinking water will play a major role in rebuilding Southern Sudan.

Pray

Please pray that God will draw many Dinka to himself as they hear the Gospel and experience Christ's love through these programs to meet their needs for clean water and education.