Pause for a moment and imagine that, instead of spending time with family during the holidays, you are left with an urgent choice. You must either flee your home to an unfamiliar place or keep your family in imminent danger.
This is the choice that refugees often face. Just as Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus were forced to flee to Egypt, parents around the world today must flee violence, disasters, and traumatic events. They often leave everything behind and escape carrying only their small children.
Few people know more about earthly sorrows than refugees. When refugees reach safety, they are often faced with unexpected learning curves: learning new languages and becoming familiar with cultural customs. Most remain in refugee settings for more than 10 years, including Maria and her family.
Maria’s parents fled Congo more than 20 years ago, and she was born in the Nyarugusu refugee camp a year later. When we spoke with Maria, she told us that water was always a challenge in the camp. But in 2015, a political crisis in Burundi led to an influx of an additional hundred thousand refugees, which made the resource even more scarce.
There simply was not enough water to meet everyone’s needs in the camp. Maria and other refugees would spend hours fetching water that was contaminated and made them sick.
Today, because of the generosity of friends like you, safe water is flowing for all 150,000 refugees in the camp. Your faithful support allowed Water Mission to install innovative solar-powered pumping and water treatment solutions. This means Maria and her new baby, Margaret, have safe water available close to home.
“When Margaret and I wake up healthy, I count that as a blessing,” Maria says joyfully. “We can bathe. We can wash our clothes. We can wash dishes. Since the presence of the water project, everything has been good. Health is very much improved.”
Safe water means new mothers, like Maria, can praise the Lord for the blessing of healthy, happy children. It also provides opportunities for refugees and others in need to experience the joy that comes only from a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
As you celebrate the joy of our Savior’s birth this Christmas, consider blessing families like Maria’s with safe and Living Water.
Your Christmas gift brings joy to the world’s most vulnerable people.