Water Filters in Curuai

Welcome to Curuai

Last week, at the last minute, I decided to join up on a water filter supervision and maintenance trip to the village of Curuai, located on Lago Grande just up the Amazon a bit from Santarém.  Along on this trip were some fellow missionaries and some brazilians.  The purpose of this trip was two-fold.  We needed to do home visits and maintenance on water filters already installed in the community.  Since the town has more than 300 filters installed, this is a big effort.  Secondly, as we went house to house, we trained several of the local church people to be able to do this maintenance work.

The village of Curuai has approximately 600 families.  An 8.5 hour boat trip up the Amazon will get you there.  Recently benefiting from a rural electrification initiative, the town has grown in both population and physical size, now having several neighborhoods, three schools, and five full time health workers.  Portions of the villa have public water (non-treated water), but not all parts.  Many homes have open wells where buckets can be dropped in a water pulled out.  The water table lies in some places less than one meter below the surface.  Of course the danger is contamination to the ground water supply, and thus the great need for these water filters.  People in the community talk of times before the filters when diarrhea and other intestinal problems were prevalent, but how since their introduction, these health risks have greatly diminished.

Teaching how to do maintenance.

Please pray for the local Paz church workers who diligently serve the people through this ministry.  Pray for their interactions, that they would bear spiritual fruit, offering sweet times of communion and prayer within homes that may not otherwise hear the gospel.  After all, the real life-giving water is Christ Jesus, and it is in His name that we serve.  Pray for them as they volunteer their time, being away from their families and livelihood to pursue the Lord's work.  Pray that they carry with them the aroma of Christ, the aroma of life eternal and joy in our God!

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