Nigerian village taps into clean water for the first time
Like most rural communities in Nigeria, Angwan Rimi depended on muddy streams for procuring drinking water.
On July 16, 2006, the village's new water well was commissioned in a lively ceremony of thanksgiving and prayer.
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NIGERIA - The gold-hued plaque mounted on the village well reads, "Everyone who thirsts come to the water." A first-ever invitation for the residents of Angwan Rimi village in Nigeria.
Angwan Rimi is a village comprised of some 1,500 nomads and Muslim peasant farmers in the state of Nasarawa, north central Nigeria. Like most rural communities in Nigeria, the community has – for generations – depended on muddy streams and gaping open wells for procuring drinking water.
Such a practice can be lethal. Diseases like typhus, cholera, dysentery and malaria are often carried in the polluted water of these communal streams and contaminated wells. On an international scale, the World Health Organization estimates that a child dies every eight seconds due to a water-related disease.
Working through a donation from "The Christian Bunse Family," Operation Blessing's Water Wells and Cisterns program dug a safe well and built a pump for the village of Angwan Rimi. The new utility was commissioned in a lively ceremony of thanksgiving and prayer and afterwards, the villagers were given a lecture about hygiene, proper sanitation, and how to maintain their well and prevent misuse.
"Today, I feel fulfilled as a community head, because it is during my time that my people can boast of potable water," said village head Alhaji Mada Dodo Sale. "This is the first well since our village was founded by our forefathers many years ago. I am happy, because for the first time in my life I can see pure water rushing out from a pipe!"
How You Can Help
Today, you can help break the cycle of suffering by giving toward Operation Blessing's water wells and cisterns program. A financial gift of $1,000 can drill a well for an entire village like Angwan Rimi, and supply families with safe, clean water. Help us break the cycle of water-borne suffering!
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